Specialty Photonic Crystal Fibres and Their Applications

A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352). This special issue belongs to the section "Inorganic Crystalline Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2021) | Viewed by 21762

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Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Max-Planck Institute for Science of Light, Erlangen, Germany
Interests: photonic crystal fibres; ultrafast phenomena; nonlinear optics; novel light sources

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Staudtstraße 2, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Interests: Photonic crystal fibres; quantum optics; nonlinear optics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since their first demonstration in 1996, photonic crystal fibres (PCFs) have evolved into an established platform for applications in both academic and industrial environments, owing to their ability to confine light in a far more versatile way than possible with conventional optical fibres. In particular, the multifaceted world of PCF has expanded to cover a broad range of fields such as interferometry, telecommunications, high-power beam delivery, laser science, frequency conversion, quantum optics, sensing, ultra-precise frequency metrology, and many others.

In recent years, there has been a great interest in the design, fabrication, and application of specialty PCFs with unique properties far beyond the capabilities of standard fibres. For instance, the original dream of surpassing the performance of conventional fibres for telecommunications is now in sight for the first time due to the recent demonstration of broadband-guiding hollow-core PCFs capable of transporting high light intensities and photon energies with extraordinarily low attenuation close to that of commercial standard fibres. Other examples of these special developments include PCFs made of glasses other than fused silica to extend the range of applications either into the mid-infrared or the ultraviolet. PCFs can also be engineered to exhibit strong circular birefringence by twisting them around their longitudinal axis. Specialty PCFs have also paramount implications in real-world applications such as the development of the new generation of high-power fibre lasers and amplifiers involving active PCFs or enhanced sensing aided by polymer-based PCFs.

This Special Issue will give an overview of the state-of-the-art in PCF technology and its multiple applications, combined with an optimistic outlook to what lies ahead. Contributions will include original research papers on aspects related to specialty PCFs, as well as reviews of specific key topics of current relevance.

Dr. David Novoa
Prof. Dr. Nicolas Y. Joly
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Photonic crystal fibres
  • Nonlinear optics
  • Supercontinuum generation
  • Laser science
  • Beam delivery
  • Telecoms
  • Quantum optics

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Published Papers (8 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 219 KiB  
Editorial
Specialty Photonic Crystal Fibers and Their Applications
by David Novoa and Nicolas Y. Joly
Crystals 2021, 11(7), 739; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11070739 - 25 Jun 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2498
Abstract
This year not only commemorates the 60th anniversary of nonlinear optics with the seminal experiment of second harmonic generation [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Specialty Photonic Crystal Fibres and Their Applications)

Research

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10 pages, 3060 KiB  
Article
Hydrogen Molecules Rotational Stimulated Raman Scattering in All-Fiber Cavity Based on Hollow-Core Photonic Crystal Fibers
by Wenxi Pei, Hao Li, Wei Huang, Meng Wang and Zefeng Wang
Crystals 2021, 11(6), 711; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11060711 - 21 Jun 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2296
Abstract
Here, we report the rotational stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) of hydrogen molecules in an all-fiber cavity based on hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCFs). The gas cavity consists of a 49 m long HC-PCF filled with 18 bar high-pressure hydrogen and two sections of [...] Read more.
Here, we report the rotational stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) of hydrogen molecules in an all-fiber cavity based on hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCFs). The gas cavity consists of a 49 m long HC-PCF filled with 18 bar high-pressure hydrogen and two sections of fusion spliced solid-core fibers on both ends. When pumped by a homemade 1064 nm pulsed fiber amplifier, only rotational SRS occurs in the gas cavity due to the transmission spectral characteristics of the used HC-PCF, and 1135 nm Stokes wave is obtained (Raman frequency shift of 587 cm−1). By changing the pulse width and repetition frequency of the pump source, the output characteristics are explored. In addition, a theoretical model is established for comparison with the experimental results. This work is helpful for the application of gas Raman laser based on the HC-PCFs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Specialty Photonic Crystal Fibres and Their Applications)
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11 pages, 2895 KiB  
Article
Geometrical Scaling of Antiresonant Hollow-Core Fibers for Mid-Infrared Beam Delivery
by Ang Deng and Wonkeun Chang
Crystals 2021, 11(4), 420; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11040420 - 14 Apr 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2765
Abstract
We numerically investigate the effect of scaling two key structural parameters in antiresonant hollow-core fibers—dielectric wall thickness of the cladding elements and core size—in view of low-loss mid-infrared beam delivery. We demonstrate that there exists an additional resonance-like loss peak in the long-wavelength [...] Read more.
We numerically investigate the effect of scaling two key structural parameters in antiresonant hollow-core fibers—dielectric wall thickness of the cladding elements and core size—in view of low-loss mid-infrared beam delivery. We demonstrate that there exists an additional resonance-like loss peak in the long-wavelength limit of the first transmission band in antiresonant hollow-core fibers. We also find that the confinement loss in tubular-type hollow-core fibers depends strongly on the core size, where the degree of the dependence varies with the cladding tube size. The loss scales with the core diameter to the power of approximately −5.4 for commonly used tubular-type hollow-core fiber designs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Specialty Photonic Crystal Fibres and Their Applications)
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12 pages, 20752 KiB  
Article
Polarization Modulation Instability in Dispersion-Engineered Photonic Crystal Fibers
by Abraham Loredo-Trejo, Antonio Díez, Enrique Silvestre and Miguel V. Andrés
Crystals 2021, 11(4), 365; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11040365 - 30 Mar 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2187
Abstract
Generation of widely spaced polarization modulation instability (PMI) sidebands in a wide collection of photonic crystal fibers (PCF), including liquid-filled PCFs, is reported. The contribution of chromatic dispersion and birefringence to the net linear phase mismatch of PMI is investigated in all-normal dispersion [...] Read more.
Generation of widely spaced polarization modulation instability (PMI) sidebands in a wide collection of photonic crystal fibers (PCF), including liquid-filled PCFs, is reported. The contribution of chromatic dispersion and birefringence to the net linear phase mismatch of PMI is investigated in all-normal dispersion PCFs and in PCFs with one (or two) zero dispersion wavelengths. Large frequency shift sidebands are demonstrated experimentally. Suitable fabrication parameters for air-filled and liquid-filled PCFs are proposed as guidelines for the development of dual-wavelength light sources based on PMI. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Specialty Photonic Crystal Fibres and Their Applications)
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11 pages, 3012 KiB  
Article
Understanding Nonlinear Pulse Propagation in Liquid Strand-Based Photonic Bandgap Fibers
by Xue Qi, Kay Schaarschmidt, Guangrui Li, Saher Junaid, Ramona Scheibinger, Tilman Lühder and Markus A. Schmidt
Crystals 2021, 11(3), 305; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11030305 - 19 Mar 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2349
Abstract
Ultrafast supercontinuum generation crucially depends on the dispersive properties of the underlying waveguide. This strong dependency allows for tailoring nonlinear frequency conversion and is particularly relevant in the context of waveguides that include geometry-induced resonances. Here, we experimentally uncovered the impact of the [...] Read more.
Ultrafast supercontinuum generation crucially depends on the dispersive properties of the underlying waveguide. This strong dependency allows for tailoring nonlinear frequency conversion and is particularly relevant in the context of waveguides that include geometry-induced resonances. Here, we experimentally uncovered the impact of the relative spectral distance between the pump and the bandgap edge on the supercontinuum generation and in particular on the dispersive wave formation on the example of a liquid strand-based photonic bandgap fiber. In contrast to its air-hole-based counterpart, a bandgap fiber shows a dispersion landscape that varies greatly with wavelength. Particularly due to the strong dispersion variation close to the bandgap edges, nanometer adjustments of the pump wavelength result in a dramatic change of the dispersive wave generation (wavelength and threshold). Phase-matching considerations confirm these observations, additionally revealing the relevance of third order dispersion for interband energy transfer. The present study provides additional insights into the nonlinear frequency conversion of resonance-enhanced waveguide systems which will be relevant for both understanding nonlinear processes as well as for tailoring the spectral output of nonlinear fiber sources. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Specialty Photonic Crystal Fibres and Their Applications)
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13 pages, 3045 KiB  
Article
Investigation on Chalcogenide Glass Additive Manufacturing for Shaping Mid-infrared Optical Components and Microstructured Optical Fibers
by Julie Carcreff, François Cheviré, Ronan Lebullenger, Antoine Gautier, Radwan Chahal, Jean Luc Adam, Laurent Calvez, Laurent Brilland, Elodie Galdo, David Le Coq, Gilles Renversez and Johann Troles
Crystals 2021, 11(3), 228; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11030228 - 25 Feb 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2913
Abstract
In this work, an original way of shaping chalcogenide optical components has been investigated. Thorough evaluation of the properties of chalcogenide glasses before and after 3D printing has been carried out in order to determine the impact of the 3D additive manufacturing process [...] Read more.
In this work, an original way of shaping chalcogenide optical components has been investigated. Thorough evaluation of the properties of chalcogenide glasses before and after 3D printing has been carried out in order to determine the impact of the 3D additive manufacturing process on the material. In order to evaluate the potential of such additive glass manufacturing, several preliminary results obtained with various chalcogenide objects and components, such as cylinders, beads, drawing preforms and sensors, are described and discussed. This innovative 3D printing method opens the way for many applications involving chalcogenide fiber elaboration, but also many other chalcogenide glass optical devices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Specialty Photonic Crystal Fibres and Their Applications)
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10 pages, 8483 KiB  
Article
Photoionization-Induced Broadband Dispersive Wave Generated in an Ar-Filled Hollow-Core Photonic Crystal Fiber
by Jianhua Fu, Yifei Chen, Zhiyuan Huang, Fei Yu, Dakun Wu, Jinyu Pan, Cheng Zhang, Ding Wang, Meng Pang and Yuxin Leng
Crystals 2021, 11(2), 180; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11020180 - 12 Feb 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2490
Abstract
The resonance band in hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF), while leading to high-loss region in the fiber transmission spectrum, has been successfully used for generating phase-matched dispersive wave (DW). Here, we report that the spectral width of the resonance-induced DW can be largely [...] Read more.
The resonance band in hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF), while leading to high-loss region in the fiber transmission spectrum, has been successfully used for generating phase-matched dispersive wave (DW). Here, we report that the spectral width of the resonance-induced DW can be largely broadened due to plasma-driven blueshifting soliton. In the experiment, we observed that in a short length of Ar-filled single-ring HC-PCF the soliton self-compression and photoionization effects caused a strong spectral blueshift of the pump pulse, changing the phase-matching condition of the DW emission process. Therefore, broadening of DW spectrum to the longer-wavelength side was obtained with several spectral peaks, which correspond to the generation of DW at different positions along the fiber. In particular, we numerically used the super-Gauss windows with different central wavelengths to filter out these DW spectral peaks and studied the time-domain characteristics of these peaks respectively using Fourier transform method. We observed that these multiple-peaks on the DW spectrum have different delays in the time domain, which is in good agreement with our theoretical prediction. More interestingly, we found that the broadband DW with several spectral peaks can be compressed to ~29 fs after proper dispersion compensation. The results reported here, on the one hand, provide some useful insights into the resonance-induced DW generation process in gas-filled HC-PCFs. On the other hand, the DW-emission mechanism could be used to generate the ultrashort light sources with a wide spectral range through using the proper design of the resonance bands of the HC-PCFs, which has many applications in the ultrafast related experiments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Specialty Photonic Crystal Fibres and Their Applications)
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Review

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15 pages, 4746 KiB  
Review
Application of Hollow-Core Photonic Crystal Fibers in Gas Raman Lasers Operating at 1.7 μm
by Jun Li, Hao Li and Zefeng Wang
Crystals 2021, 11(2), 121; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11020121 - 27 Jan 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2967
Abstract
A 1.7 μm pulsed laser plays an important role in bioimaging, gas detection, and so on. Fiber gas Raman lasers (FGRLs) based on hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCFs) provide a novel and effective method for fiber lasers operating at 1.7 μm. Compared with [...] Read more.
A 1.7 μm pulsed laser plays an important role in bioimaging, gas detection, and so on. Fiber gas Raman lasers (FGRLs) based on hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCFs) provide a novel and effective method for fiber lasers operating at 1.7 μm. Compared with traditional methods, FGRLs have more advantages in generating high-power 1.7 μm pulsed lasers. This paper reviews the studies of 1.7 μm FGRLs, briefly describes the principle and characteristics of HC-PCFs and gas-stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), and systematical characterizes 1.7 μm FGRLs in aspects of output spectral coverage, power-limiting factors, and a theoretical model. When the fiber length and pump power are constant, a relatively high gas pressure and appropriate pump peak power are the key to achieving high-power 1.7 μm Raman output. Furthermore, the development direction of 1.7 μm FGRLs is also explored. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Specialty Photonic Crystal Fibres and Their Applications)
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