Y Dulashko | PubMed Health

PubMed2006

Probing optical microfiber nonuniformities at nanoscale.

We demonstrate a novel, simple, and comprehensive method for probing optical microfiber surface and bulk distortions with subnanometer accuracy. The method employs a regular optical fiber as a probe that slides along a microfiber transmitting the fundamental mode. The fraction of radiation power absorbed in the probe depends on the local distribution of the mode propagating in the microfiber. From the measured variation of the absorbed power, we determine the variation of the effective microfiber radius, which takes into account both the microfiber radius and refractive index variations. Furthermore, we verify the cylindrical symmetry of the microfiber nonuniformities by probing the microfiber from different sides. These results explain observed transmission losses in silica microfibers and open broad opportunities for microfiber investigation.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2004

Thermomechanical modification of diffraction gratings.

The most accurate approaches to fabrication of diffraction gratings are known to be the lithographic and holographic methods. The lithographic methods allow fabrication of arbitrarily chirped gratings whose performance, however, is degraded by stitching errors. The holographic methods are free from stitching errors; however, they are limited in the achievable spatial variations of their grating periods. We suggest a method of diffraction grating modification by nonuniform heating and stretching that is much more flexible than the holographic approach and does not suffer from the problem of stitching error. We demonstrate our approach for quartz phase masks that have a characteristic grating period of 1 microm and a length of several centimeters. Our approach allows the grating periods of the phase masks to vary in a range from a few picometers to a few nanometers and a spatial resolution of a few millimeters. It is shown that the grating period can be modified with a negligible effect on the profile of the gratings.

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