Thesis (Ph. D.)--Institute of Paper Chemistry, 1941. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 252-259).

Fiber optical parametric amplifier (FOPA) is undoubtedly one of the most thriving research topics about optical amplifiers during the past decades. The high optical gain, arbitrary gain regions and wavelength conversion with large frequency shift make FOPA outstanding in diverse application areas like the high-speed all-optical communication, wavelength-tunable laser sources and optical imaging systems. Special fiber gain medium and proper pump source are two essential elements in an FOPA setup. As the research interest on FOPAs has recently gradually extended from the conventional 1.5-_m region to the shorter wavelength band at 1 μm, photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) act as the gain media by virtue of their customized dispersion curve and nonlinearity in this band. And the 1-mum laser sources incorporating ytterbium-doped fiber (YDF) as the gain medium have been investigated as well. We prefer all-fiber laser as the pump source not only because of its high output quality but also its compatibility with other fiber systems like FOPA. However, compared with 1.5-_m range, fiber lasers in 1-_m wavelength window have not been fully developed. Most of the laser sources reported in this wavelength range are not all-fiber base. For those few all-fiber reports, the tuning range of the pulsing wavelength is not wide enough, which might limit the performance of the FOPA. In this thesis, we have investigated tunable fiber lasers aiming at becoming the promising pump sources for 1-μm FOPAs. All-fiber lasers with different techniques and operation schemes based on the YDF have been discussed. Tunable ytterbium (Yb) fiber lasers with short pulsed output are important for pulsed-pumped FOPAs in 1 _m. Passive and active mode locking techniques are both commonly employed in short pulse generation. Passive mode-locking laser cavity usually works at the fundamental frequency of the cavity (?MHz) and has the potential to generate ultra-short pulse (? fs) due to its fast recovery time. On the other hand, active mode locking is more agile in terms of the repetition rate, which is synchronized with the external electrical signal. It can be as high as tens of GHz, which is useful for high-speed optical communication, and also can be as low as tens of MHz, which can benefit applications that require high peak power. For an all-fiber mode-locked laser based on YDF, the self-starting of the passive mode locking in 1 _m is more difficult than in 1.5 μm due to the large value of the normal material dispersion in optical fibers in this shorter wavelength range. In this thesis, we have focused on the active mode-locking cavity. Two schemes of actively mode-locked fiber lasers have be demonstrated. One is with a high repetition rate of about 10-GHz at around 1030 nm. The 30-nm tuning range is beneficial to the development of the wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) technology in the newly developed 1-μm communication band. And on the basis of this scheme, another actively mode-locked fiber laser with a wider tuning range (almost 50 nm) have been achieved by optimizing the length of the YDF inside the cavity. Considering the applications like fiber sensing or spectroscopy where high peak power is more essential and also due to the limitation of our 980-nm pump power, the repetition rate has been lowered down to around 300 MHz in the second scheme. Tunable continuous-wave (CW) fiber lasers in 1 _m have also been discussed. For an all-fiber ring laser cavity, a stable CW output without mode-hopping can be achieved by selecting out single frequency. Various experimental configurations have been proposed for single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) oscillation. We have combined the multiple-ring cavity (MRC) and the saturable absorber in the same fiber laser cavity to facilitate the SLM generation in 1 _m. The tunable CW SLM fiber laser has the potential to build a sweeping source with instantaneous narrow linewidth for optical coherence tomography (OCT) in this range. It can also be utilized as the pump source for CW FOPAs, which is more immune from the walk-off effect between the pulsed pump and the signal, as long as the stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) has been suppressed properly. / published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

With the data explosion brought about by smartphones and tables during the past few years, how to keep these ever-increasing data in a stable, fast and green transmission and exchange environment is among the top problems for researchers in the communication field. As the backbone for the modern communication network, optical fiber communication is currently playing a key role in this on-going technology revolution. The optical amplifier is one of the most powerful tools of the optical communication system to cope with the data explosion. Distributed parametric amplification (DPA), with its potential green characteristics, i.e. noiseless, high-speed response, high power efficiency and wavelength flexibility, provides a promising amplification solution for the next generation of optical communication systems. As on specific type of optical parametric amplification (OPA), DPA is based on the combination of self-phase modulation (SPM), cross-phase modulation (XPM) and four-wave mixing (FWM) effects. DPA’s main difference from OPA lies in the amplification medium. As DPA utilizes the most commonly adopted transmission fiber, i.e. single-mode fiber (SMF) and dispersion-shifted fiber (DSF), the signal transmission can thus be fulfilled simultaneously with the parametric amplification in the same optical fiber: DPA’s configuration also brings another green feature, pump-power recycling, which further enhances the power efficiency of the communication system. As the fundamental study on DPA, first the gain spectrum is investigated. Both single- and two-pump DPAs are presented experimentally for WDM signals. In these experiments, residual pump power recycling is enabled by a concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) cells, Moreover, through experimental comparison with another important distributed amplification technology, distributed Raman amplification (DRA), DPA’s advantages over DRA are demonstrated. When considering similar performance levels, DPA needs much lower pump power than DRA, which in return improves the system power efficiency. The performance of DPA cannot be judged unless it is assessed in more advanced application scenarios. Thus more advanced studies on DPA are conducted. The modulation format transparency is first presented with both phase (differential phase-shift keying (DPSK)) and intensity (on-off keying (OOK)) modulation formats, and our experimental results show the superiority of DPSK over traditional OOK. Furthermore, from the perspective of wavelength flexibility, we have demonstrated, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, a DPA system at the 1.3μm telecommunication window, which provides a potentially green amplification scheme at this transmission band. All these experiments, to a certain extent, certify the feasibility of DPA to become a green optical fiber amplifier. Finally, to demonstrate DPA’s compatibility within a more complicated communication system, we propose a power–efficient UWB/DPA system for the “last mile”. After experiments on photonic UWB pulse generation and the supporting DPA system, the hybrid UWB/DPA system is demonstrated with preliminary simulation results. My research efforts presented in this thesis all aim at the practical application of the DPA scheme into the next-generation of green communication systems. If further armed with the phase-sensitive configuration, DPA’s potential as a green amplifier will be further augmented. / published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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In the past decade, electrostatic layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly has gained attention because it is a facile and robust method to prepare thin polymer films. Due to the industrial importance and natural abundance of cellulose, its incorporation into LBL films is of particular interest. This thesis examines the use of nanocrystalline cellulose, prepared by sulfuric acid hydrolysis of cotton, in polyelectrolyte multilayer films. Conventional solution-dipping and a spin-coating variant of LBL assembly both resulted in chemically defined, reproducible, and smooth films with adjustable properties. Surface morphology was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and film growth was monitored by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and optical techniques. Orientation of the rod-like cellulose nanocrystals imparted anisotropic film properties, and birefringence was calculated from angle dependent and wavelength dependent optical reflectometry measurements. While spin-coating resulted in radial orientation of the nanocrystals, electrostatic adsorption in a magnetic field led to linear alignment. The internal structure, surface orientation and wettability of these materials were investigated. The attractive and repulsive forces acting close to the surface of the multilayer films in aqueous media were measured by colloid-probe AFM and the interaction forces between the film surfaces and charged colloidal-probes were compared to the predictions of the DLVO theory. The applications and advantages of polyelectrolyte multilayers containing nanocrystalline cellulose and their potential as model cellulose surfaces are discussed.

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