Fabrication of Ultrastrong Fiber Bragg Gratings Through the Polymer Coating.
Abstract
D-STAR Technologies, Inc. has developed a technique for writing gratings through the polymer coating of commercially available optical fibers. In this Phase I project we discovered how to make our gratings thermally stable without destroying their polymer coating. This last discovery is an exciting breakthrough, for without it D-STAR's gratings would not have been commercially attractive. D-STAR now has the ability to both write and anneal gratings without removing their polymer coating. D-STAR's near-UV grating fabrication technique is a practical and inexpensive alternative for producing fiber gratings for diode laser stabilization, sensors and filters. We demonstrated that the concentration of germanium oxygen-deficient centers in the fiber core correlates well with the photosensitivity of fibers, and this concentration can vary by a factor of approx. 2 in supposedly identical fibers according to the detailed fiber preparation conditions. We showed that tin-doped fibers may prove useful for extending the response of hydrogen-loaded fibers into the near UV and visible. A plastic phase mask with a polymer film is feasible for fabrication of Bragg gratings using near UV light, but the absorption of the polymer film must be decreased to prevent its thermal damage.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 28, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA364900
Entities
People
- D. S. Starodubov
- Joshua Feinberg
- V. Grubsky