Few technologies have had as much impact on society as fiber optics. These tiny hair-sized glass wires have deeply transformed the way we access information, our modes of communication and even the behavior of consumers. Today, optical fibers are omnipresent in modern optical systems, so that a solid background in fiber optics is a prerequisite for any engineer or scientist who has the ambition to become a specialist in the conception and application of systems based on light signals. The aim of this book is to provide advanced students and young researchers with extensive knowledge about optical functions and their novel uses in the toolkit of advanced fiber optics. After an initial chapter summarizing the basic properties and fabrication of optical fibers, each chapter addresses an advanced feature of fiber optics, such as light polarization, amplification and the emission of light by fibers, nonlinear optical interactions, photonic crystal fibers, and generation of a light supercontinuum. Numerous concepts behind novel applications are presented, including the rapidly growing field of distributed sensing, for which natural scattering processes in the fiber material are exploited. The book also addresses the constant search for alternative materials, such the use of polymer optical fibers and the application of chalcogenide and soft glasses, that promise to turn optical fibers into an even more efficient and omnipresent tool for advanced photonics.With contributions by Francis Berghmans, John Dudley, Sébastien Février, Thomas Geernaert, Goery Gentry, Miguel Gonzv°lez-Herrv°ez, Mircea Hotoleanu, Kyriacos Kalli, Michel M. Marhic, Thibaut Sylvestre, Luc Thévenaz, Moshe Tur, David J. Webb, and Marc Wuilpart.
418 pages | 6 1/4 x 9 1/2 | © 2011
Table of Contents
Optical Fibers – Basics: Introduction – Wave theory and fiber modes – Single-mode and few-modes fibers – Properties of the LP01 mode – Loss mechanisms in silica (SiO2) – How are such low-loss fibers made? – Chromatic dispersion in optical single-mode fibers – Specialty fibers – Conclusions – Acknowledgement – References. Polarization Effects in Optical Fibers: State of polarization – Mathematical description of polarized light – Birefringence and beat length – Polarization-mode coupling – Coupling length – Polarization-maintaining fibers – Optical fiber modeling – Principal states of polarization – Polarization-mode dispersion – Final remarks – Conclusion – Bibliography. Photonic Crystal Fibers: Index-guiding photonic crystal fibers – Photonic bandgap-guiding fibers – Conclusion – Bibliography. Highly Doped Fiber Technology: Why doping? – Which dopants? – How to dope silica? – How much dopant? – Conclusions and additional literature. Nonlinear Effects in Optical Fibers: Nonlinear propagation in fused silica – Nonlinear propagation in optical fibers – Self- and Cross-phase modulation – Optical Solitons – Modulation instability (MI) – Four-wave mixing (FWM) – Optical Parametric Amplification (OPA) – Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) – Conclusion – Bibliography. Amplification and Lasing in Optical Fibers: Introduction – Basic considerations for doped amplifiers – Gain in amplifiers with uniform time-independent population densities – Gain in amplifiers with non-uniform time-independent population densities – Gain in amplifiers with time-dependent population densities – Nonlinear amplification mechanisms – Noise in optical amplifiers – Fiber optical oscillators (lasers) – Pulsed fiber lasers – Examples of fiber amplifiers and lasers – Conclusion – Acknowledgments – Citations and bibliographies. Nonlinear Fiber Optics and Fiber Supercontinuum Generation: Introduction – Overview of nonlinear fiber optics – Supercontinuum generation – Conclusions – Appendix – References. Rayleigh Scattering in Optical Fibers and Applications to Distributed Measurements: Physical principles of Rayleigh scattering – Formalism of scattering phenomena – Rayleigh scattering in optical fibers – Rayleigh backscattering in optical fibers – Polarization state of backscattered light – Application of Rayleigh backscattering to distributed measurements – Acknowledgment – Bibliography. Inelastic Scatterings and Applications to Distributed Sensing: Introduction – Spontaneous scatterings – Stimulated scatterings – Generalities on distributed sensing – Distributed Raman temperature sensing – Distributed Brillouin sensing – Bibliography. Optical Fiber Point Sensors: Introduction and Background – Optical Fiber Gyroscopes – Optical Fiber Fabry-Pérot Sensors – Fiber Bragg Gratings – Perspectives – Asnapshot of the fiber sensor market – Conclusion – Acknowledgements – Bibliography. Polymer Optical Fiber-Based Sensors: The argument for POF – Mechanical properties of polymers – Chemical properties – Optical properties – Intensity measurements using POF sensors – POF measurements using interferometry – Advanced sensors based on POF – Sensitivity to external measurands – Applications for Bragg gratings in POF – Microstructure POF (mPOF) – Novel materials – Conclusions – Acknowledgment – References. Index.