This thesis concerns some experimental and theoretical issues in fiber optics. In particular, properties and devices based on photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) are investigated. The work can be grouped into three parts. In the first part we use sound to control light in PCFs. The lowest order flexural acoustic mode of various PCFs is excited using an acoustic horn. The acoustic wave acts as a traveling long-period grating. This is utilized to couple light from the lowest order to the first higher order optical modes of the PCFs. Factors affecting the acoustooptic coupling bandwidth are also investigated. In particular, the effect of axial variations in acoustooptic phase-mismatch coefficient are studied. In the second part of the thesis we use an electric field to control transmission properties of PCFs. Tunable photonic bandgap guidance is obtained by filling the holes of an initially index-guiding PCF with a nematic liquid crystal and applying an electric field. The electric field introduces a polarization-dependent change of transmission properties above a certain threshold field. By turning the applied field on/off, an electrically tunable optical switch is demonstrated. The third part consists of two theoretical works. In the first work, we use relativistic causality, i.e. that signals cannot propagate faster than the vacuum velocity of light, to show that Kramers-Kronig relations exist for waveguides, even when material absorption is negligible in the frequency range of interest. It turns out that evanescent modes enter into the Kramers-Kronig relations as an effective loss term. The Kramers-Kronig relations are particularly simple in weakly guiding waveguides as the evanescent modes of these waveguides can be approximated by the evanescent modes of free space. In the second work we investigate dispersion properties of planar Bragg waveguides with advanced cladding structures. It is pointed out that Bragg waveguides with chirped claddings do not give dispersion characteristics significantly different from Bragg waveguides with periodic claddings.

Fiber optic sensors are designed to measure various parameters. The distributed fiber optics sensor has been a very promising candidate for the structural health monitoring. In this thesis, we characterized LEAF (Large Effective Area Fiber) fiber’s Brillouin scattering spectrum and investigated its potentiality for the distributed Brillouin temperature and strain sensor. Optical fibers with complex refractive index profiles are applied to improve the Brillouin threshold by varying the Brillouin linewidth. As LEAF fiber has a modified refractive index profile, we investigated its Brillouin linewidth’s dependence on the square of the pump light’s frequency. We verified the Brillouin frequency’s variation with input SOP experimentally for LEAF fiber in the spontaneous regime. This sets a limitation for the frequency resolution of distributed Brillouin sensors. We also realized a simultaneous temperature and strain sensor with LEAF fiber applying the Brillouin optical time domain analysis. Based on the direct detection of LEAF beat frequencies, a simultaneous strain and temperature sensor was demonstrated.

Fiber optic sensors are designed to measure various parameters. The distributed fiber optics sensor has been a very promising candidate for the structural health monitoring. In this thesis, we characterized LEAF (Large Effective Area Fiber) fiber’s Brillouin scattering spectrum and investigated its potentiality for the distributed Brillouin temperature and strain sensor. Optical fibers with complex refractive index profiles are applied to improve the Brillouin threshold by varying the Brillouin linewidth. As LEAF fiber has a modified refractive index profile, we investigated its Brillouin linewidth’s dependence on the square of the pump light’s frequency. We verified the Brillouin frequency’s variation with input SOP experimentally for LEAF fiber in the spontaneous regime. This sets a limitation for the frequency resolution of distributed Brillouin sensors. We also realized a simultaneous temperature and strain sensor with LEAF fiber applying the Brillouin optical time domain analysis. Based on the direct detection of LEAF beat frequencies, a simultaneous strain and temperature sensor was demonstrated.

A distributed fiber optic sensor with the ability of detecting and locating intruders on foot and vehicles over long perimeters (>10 km) was studied. The response of the sensor to people walking over or near it and to vehicles driving nearby was observed and analyzed. The sensor works on the principle of phase sensitive optical time domain re ectometry, making use of interferometric effects of Rayleigh backscattered light along a single mode fiber. Light pulses from a highly stable Er:doped fiber laser emitting single longitudinal mode light and exhibiting low frequency drift are passed through one end of the buried fiber. The backscattered light emerging from the same fiber end was monitored using a photodetector. The phase changes produced in the light pulse due to the pressure of the intruder walking directly above or near the sensor or from the seismic disturbances created by vehicles moving in the vicinity of the sensor are detected using the phase sensitive Optical Time Domain Re ectometer (OTDR). Field tests were conducted with the sensing element as a single mode fiber in a 3-mm diameter cable buried at depths ranging from 8 to 18 inches in clay soil. It was observed that the sensor could detect intruders walking transverse to the cable line at a distance of 40 ft from it. A car moving at a speed of 30 mph on a rough road could be consistently detected up to a distance of 480 ft from the sensor, while a car driven on a smooth road 200 ft from the sensor could be detected only when passing through rough patches on the road. Tests were also performed with an intruder walking near the sensor while a car was driven at a speed of 30 mph on a rough road. The effect on the signal due to the intruder on foot could be distinguished clearly only when the car was at least 200 ft away from the sensor. The results in this thesis represent the first quantitative study of the sensitivity of the sensor under varied test conditions. It is expected that these findings will be helpful in the practical implementation of the long perimeter intrusion sensor along high security domains like national borders, military bases and government buildings.

Fiber-optic networks are continually evolving to accommodate the ever increasing data rates demanded by modern applications and devices. The current state-of-the art systems are being deployed with 100 Gb/s rates per wavelength while maintaining the 50 GHz channel spacing established for 10 Gb/s dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) systems. Phase modulation formats (in particular quadrature phase shift keying - QPSK) are necessary to meet the spectral efficiency (SE) requirements of the application. The main challenge for phase modulated optical systems is fiber nonlinearities, where changes in intensity of the combined optical signal result in changes to the fiber's refractive index. Limiting launch power is the primary means to avoid dramatic intensity fluctuations, a strategy which in turn limits the available signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) within the channel. Continuous phase modulation (CPM) is a format in which data is encoded in the phase, while the amplitude is constant throughout all transmission (even during transitions between symbols). With the goal of reducing the impact of nonlinearities, the purpose of this research was to identify a set of CPM signals best suited for high speed fiber-optic transmission, and quantify their performance against other formats. The secondary goal was to identify techniques appropriate for demodulation of high speed fiber-optic systems and implement them for simulation and experimental research. CPM encompasses a number of variable parameters that combine to form an infinite number of unique schemes, each of which is characterized by its own SE, minimum distance, and implementation complexity. A method for computing minimum distance of DWDM-filtered CPM formats is presented and utilized to narrow down to a range of candidate schemes. A novel transmitter design is presented for CPM signal generation, as well as a number of novel reception techniques to achieve proper demodulation of the CPM signal from the coherent optical receiver. Using these methods, the identified range of candidate schemes was compared in simulation to the conventional QPSK format, showing that some modest gain can be expected from CPM. Through these and other simulations, it is revealed that fiber nonlinearities depend on the aggregate sum of all wavelengths rather than the imposition of each separate carrier on its neighbors. Therefore the constant envelope of CPM does not directly impact the nonlinearities since multiple carriers will photonically interfere and result in intensity fluctuations regardless of modulation format. Additionally, dispersive effects in fiber decompose the underlying channels so that the intensity throughout propagation is nearly Gaussian distributed, regardless of format. The benefits gained from CPM are thus limited to schemes that attain a higher minimum distance than alternative formats (in the given channel passband), and for optically compensated links in which low dispersion is maintained throughout the fiber link.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-159). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M.S.) in Civil Engineering--University of Maine, 2002. / Includes vita. Bibliography: leaves 134-141.

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