Abstract
We report a new type of silica-based all-solid fiber with a 2-D nanostructure
core. The nanostructure core fiber (NCF) is formed by a 2-D array of high-index
rods of sub-wavelength dimensions. We theoretically study the birefringence
property of such fibers over a large wavelength range. Large-mode-area (LMA)
structure with a typical high birefringence in the order of $10^{-4}$ can be easily realized. The
attenuation of the fabricated NCF is as low as 3.5 dB/km at 1550 nm. Higher
macro- and micro-bending losses compared with those of the single-mode fiber
(SMF) due to the reduced index difference have been observed experimentally,
which suggests that the NCF is potentially useful for curvature and strain
sensing applications. A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) inscribed in such a novel
fiber is side-polished to make use of its evanescent field for refractive
index sensing. The refractive index sensitivity obtained is one order of magnitude
higher than that of the side-polished FBG in SMF, while the temperature and
strain performances are comparable with those of the SMF-based FBG.
© 2009 IEEE
PDF Article
More Like This
Cited By
You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.
Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription