<p>The topic of this thesis is development ofdevices fortelecom applications based on poled optical fibers. The focusis on two different specific functions, wavelength conversionand optical switching.</p><p>Optical switching is demonstrated in a poled optical fiberat telecom wavelengths (~1.55 mm). The fiber has two holesrunning along the core in which electrodes are inserted. Thefiber device is made electro-optically active with a polingprocess in which a strong electric field is recorded in thefiber at a temperature of 270 o C. The fiber is then put in onearm of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer and by applying a voltageacross the two electrodes in the fiber the refractive index ismodulated and the optical signal switched from one output portto the other. So far the lowest switching voltage achieved is~1600 V which is too high for a commercial device, but byoptimizing the design of the fiber and the poling process aswitching voltage as low as 50 V is aimed for.</p><p>A method to deposit a thin silver electrode inside the holesof an optical fiber is also demonstrated. A new way of creatingperiodic electrodes by periodically ablating the silver filmelectrode inside the holes of an optical fiber is also shown.The periodic electrodes can be used to create a quasi-phasematched (QPM) nonlinearity in the fiber which is useful forincreasing the efficiency of a nonlinear process such aswavelength conversion. Poling of a fiber with silver electrodesshowed a huge increase in the nonlinearity. This could be dueto a resonant enhancement caused by silver nanoclusters.</p><p><b>Keywords:</b>Poling, twinhole fiber, fiber electrodes,silver film electrodes, silver diffusion, quasi-phase matching,optical switching, frequency conversion, optical modulation</p>

The topic of this thesis is development ofdevices fortelecom applications based on poled optical fibers. The focusis on two different specific functions, wavelength conversionand optical switching. Optical switching is demonstrated in a poled optical fiberat telecom wavelengths (~1.55 mm). The fiber has two holesrunning along the core in which electrodes are inserted. Thefiber device is made electro-optically active with a polingprocess in which a strong electric field is recorded in thefiber at a temperature of 270 o C. The fiber is then put in onearm of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer and by applying a voltageacross the two electrodes in the fiber the refractive index ismodulated and the optical signal switched from one output portto the other. So far the lowest switching voltage achieved is~1600 V which is too high for a commercial device, but byoptimizing the design of the fiber and the poling process aswitching voltage as low as 50 V is aimed for. A method to deposit a thin silver electrode inside the holesof an optical fiber is also demonstrated. A new way of creatingperiodic electrodes by periodically ablating the silver filmelectrode inside the holes of an optical fiber is also shown.The periodic electrodes can be used to create a quasi-phasematched (QPM) nonlinearity in the fiber which is useful forincreasing the efficiency of a nonlinear process such aswavelength conversion. Poling of a fiber with silver electrodesshowed a huge increase in the nonlinearity. This could be dueto a resonant enhancement caused by silver nanoclusters. <b>Keywords:</b>Poling, twinhole fiber, fiber electrodes,silver film electrodes, silver diffusion, quasi-phase matching,optical switching, frequency conversion, optical modulation / NR 20140805