MOMAG 2014: 16º SBMO - Simpósio Brasileiro de Micro-ondas e Optoeletrônica e 11º CBMag - Congresso Brasileiro de

Eletromagnetismo

Acousto-optic Modulation of a Fiber Bragg Grating in

Four Holes Suspended Core Fiber

Ricardo E. Silvaa,b,c*, Martin Beckera, Manfred Rothhardta, Alexandre A. P. Pohlc and Hartmut Bartelta,b
a
Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (IPHT), Jena, Germany
b
Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU), Jena, Germany
c
Federal University of Technology-Paraná (UTFPR), Curitiba, Brazil
*
[email protected]

Abstract — The acousto-optic interaction of a fiber Bragg electrically tunable acoustic waves [1, 9–14]. In particular, the
grating in a suspended core fiber is experimentally demonstrated. interaction of longitudinal acoustic waves and Bragg gratings
The grating reflectivity is tunable by the amplitude of an allows the dynamic change of the reflectivity and the
electrical signal for acoustic frequencies between 216 and wavelength of reflection bands in both sides of the Bragg
497 kHz. A reflectivity amplitude decrease by up to 67% in the resonance, which is useful for the control of tunable reflectors,
Bragg resonance is obtained to a maximum voltage of 9 V. The modulators and fiber lasers [9-11]. Moreover, the superposition
reduction of the required acoustic power from 150 to 9 V and the between flexural and longitudinal acoustic waves can be
grating length from 2 to 1 cm compared to previous works with applied to induce chirp in the grating, which is useful to
standard fibers for achieving the acousto-optic modulation,
modulate the Bragg resonance reflectivity and the spectrum
points out to more efficient modulator devices in suspended-core
fibers.
bandwidth [17]. However, the acoustic power is generally
distributed over the whole fiber cross section in standard single
Keywords — Acousto-optical devices; Microstructured fibers; mode fibers (SMF), which reduces the overlap between the
Fiber optics components; Fiber Bragg gratings. acoustic wave and the grating written in the fiber core, and
consequently the acousto-optic interaction. Cladding-etched
fibers with strong gratings or tapered fibers with long gratings
I. INTRODUCTION enhance the acousto-optic interaction [9-11]. However, the
Tunable chirp and reflectivity modulation of fiber Bragg inscription of strong gratings requires high laser power
gratings (FBGs) is of interest for applications in fiber lasers, densities, high germanium dopings or hydrogen loading [15].
optical pulse sources, bandpass filters and dispersion Additionally, the inscription of long gratings is limited by the
compensators [1–7]. Previous works have been proposed to spatial and temporal coherence of employed interferometry
induce dynamic chirp in FBG by using temperature gradient- techniques or requires the use of long phase masks or
techniques [3, 4]. However, the low sensitivity of the silica additional equipment to shift the fiber or the laser beam [16].
elasto-optic coefficient requires high temperatures to produce Moreover, the realization of tapers requires specific equipment
short spectral variations in the nanometer range. Furthermore, and even complex techniques, mainly due to the relatively long
the device response time is also limited because the material fiber transitions required to increase the acousto-optic
heating-cooling process is relatively slow. interaction. In addition, the reduction of the fiber diameter
affects its mechanical stability and makes the optical properties
Nevertheless, a strain based technique provides wider
more susceptible to surface contamination. One promising
wavelength tuning range and faster response time compared to
option to overcome all these drawbacks is the use of
gradient temperature techniques [8]. Among the techniques
suspended-core fibers (SCFs). These fibers present a very
available, fiber with S-shape bending allows chirping the FBG
small core in size of a few micrometers suspended by thin
without causing the central wavelength shift [5–7]. The fiber is
radial walls, and surrounded by a single ring of large air holes.
embedded on a thin and flexible metal beam, which is
This allows a significant reduction of the amount of silica in
subjected to two antisymmetric curvatures. The grating center
the cladding, which leads to a larger acousto-optic interaction
is fixed at the midpoint of the S-bending, where no strain is
between the acoustic wave and the grating in the core.
applied and, therefore, at this point the Bragg wavelength is not
In this work, we experimentally investigated the
disturbed. However, in one side of the curvature, the tension
reflectivity modulation of a grating inscribed in a four holes
strain shifts the reflection spectrum to longer wavelengths,
suspended-core fiber. By changing the acoustic power and the
whereas in the other side, the compression strain shifts it to
frequency applied to the fiber, we verified that the grating
shorter wavelengths. Thus, the grating spectral width is
reflectivity can be significantly decreased compared to results
increased, but the center wavelength remains unchanged.
obtained with standard fibers used in previous works. The
Nevertheless, S-bent devices have limitations for the dynamic
results indicate larger acousto-optic effect in suspended-core
and fast control of the FBG spectrum, since they often are
fibers, which is desirable to reduce the size and the power
mechanically driven. On the other hand, acousto-optic devices
consumed by acousto-optic devices. It also relaxes the
allow the fast control of the elasto-optic FBG properties by
requirements for inscribing strong or long gratings as shorter

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 MOMAG 2014: 16º SBMO - Simpósio Brasileiro de Micro-ondas e Optoeletrônica e 11º CBMag - Congresso Brasileiro de
Eletromagnetismo

gratings can be employed, and avoids the cladding reduction by Previous works have demonstrated that the Bragg
etching or taper techniques. resonance reflectivity can be reduced by increasing the
acoustic power or, in other words, the reflected light in the
II. THEORY resonance can be coupled to higher order side lobes [9-11]. As
The interaction of longitudinal acoustic waves and fiber a result, the total grating reflectivity is reduced and the
Bragg gratings induces reflection bands in both sides of the spectrum bandwidth is broader, as illustrated in Fig. 1(c).
Bragg resonance. Fig. 1 illustrates the principle of this acousto- Current works have revealed that the grating bandwidth can
optic interaction. When an optical mode with effective index also be increased by a complex superposition of flexural and
neff propagates in a non-perturbed fiber containing a grating of longitudinal acoustic waves [17]. However, the resultant effect
period Λ, this mode will be reflected in the grating, resulting in is similar to that caused by a longitudinal acoustic wave.
a reflected band at the Bragg wavelength λB = 2neffΛ as seen in
Fig. 1(a). However, if a longitudinal acoustic wave is excited III. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
along the fiber axis z, it produces a periodic strain, which
Fig. 2 shows a cross section of the SCF model IPHT-256b3
compresses and stretches the grating. In this way, the strain
fabricated at the Institute of Photonic Technology used in the
modulates the mode effective index neff(z) and the grating
experiment. The fiber is composed of four air holes of
period Λ(z), causing lobes to appear on both sides of the Bragg
D ~ 24 µm in diameter separated by silica bridges of
wavelength (Fig. 1(b)). The normalized side lobe reflectivity η
t ~ 700 nm thickness, which form a solid core of d = 5 µm
is given as [9,10],
incircle diameter. The fiber cross section diameter is
 nac     ϕ =100 µm. We inscribed a 1 cm long FBG by means of a
  tanh 2  LJ m  a S   . (1) femtosecond laser and two-beam interference using the Talbot
 B    interferometer arrangement according to the methodology
described in [16]. The grating 3-dB bandwidth is 0.26 nm and
where, S is the peak strain, Jm is the Bessel function of the first the maximum reflectivity is about 99%.
kind of order m, ∆nac is the grating index modulation
amplitude, L is the grating length, λa is the acoustic period and Fig. 3 illustrates the experimental setup used for the
Γ is the fraction of the optical power in the propagating mode characterization of the modulated FBG spectrum. The acoustic
that overlaps with the grating. For the step index single mode waves are excited by an acousto-optic modulator, which is
optical fiber (SMF) the peak strain S can be approximated as, composed of a piezoelectric transducer (PZT disc of 2 mm
thick, PI model with diameter of 25 mm), a 5 cm long acoustic
2 Pac silica horn and 5 cm long SCF with the inscribed FBG. The
S , (2) grating is illuminated by a LED and the reflection spectrum is
EAs v
obtained through a circulator and an optical spectrum analyzer
in which Pac is the acoustic power, E is the Young’s modulus, (OSA) with a 50 pm wavelength resolution. The coupling
As is the silica fiber cross section and v is the acoustic velocity. between the SCF and fiber from circulator is made by a splice.
For a specific value of Pac, it should be noted that in equations The fiber is adjusted and aligned to avoid the presence of stress
(1) and (2) the reflectivity η can be increased by increasing the and the Bragg wavelength shift is also monitored during the
index modulation ∆nac or the grating length L, as well, by alignment. By fixing the PZT base and the fiber tip, the
reducing the fiber diameter. The side lobe separation Δλ can be modulator works as a resonant acoustic cavity that allows
described as [9], exciting standing acoustic waves at certain resonant
frequencies. The PZT is excited by a 9 V maximum sinusoidal
f B 2 signal from an arbitrary signal generator at f = 216 kHz,
  , (3) 343 kHz, 360 kHz and 497 kHz, respectively. The changes in
2neff v
the grating reflectivity are observed to be more pronounced for
which, is related with the acoustic frequency f, the Bragg these frequencies, due manly to the PZT resonances and the
wavelength λB, the acoustic velocity v, and the effective index matching between the acoustic wavelengths and the horn-fiber
neff. length.

(a)
FBG

reflectivity
(b) (c)
tension compression
1.0

0.5
strain 
Strain (x10 )
-3

0.0

-0.5

-1.0
50 60 70 80 90 100
fiber length (mm)

bandwith

Fig. 1. Behavior of the fiber Bragg grating (a) without and (b) with
longitudinal acousto-optical modulation. (c) Reflectivity and bandwith Fig. 2. Cross section of the four air holes supendend core fiber IPHT-256b3
modulation caused by the acoustic wave. used in the experiment.

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 MOMAG 2014: 16º SBMO - Simpósio Brasileiro de Micro-ondas e Optoeletrônica e 11º CBMag - Congresso Brasileiro de
Eletromagnetismo

PZT LED frequency. We verified from previous works that similar results
have been obtained by using SMF, a similar setup and a
SCF FBG circulator resonance frequency at f = 230 kHz [18]. In contrast, in this
horn
work, the grating inscribed in the SCF fiber is half the grating
acoustic waves length than in SMF (SCF L = 1 cm, SMF L = 2 cm) and the
voltage used is 16x lower (SCF – 9 V, SMF – 150 V).
clamp OSA
signal generator (~)

Fig. 3. Experimental setup with the acousto-optic modulator and devices f = 216 kHz off
used to characterize the FBG modulated spectrum. 1.0 (a) 1V

FBG normalized reflectivity

2V
3V
0.8 4V
IV. RESULTS
5V
67%
6V
Figs. 4(a)-(c) show the modulated FBG spectra for the 7V
0.6
acoustic resonances at f = 216 kHz, 343 kHz and 360 kHz, for 8V
which the reflectivity variations are stronger. The changes in 9V
the reflectivity for all resonances are monitored when 1 to 9 V 0.4
are applied to the PZT. The spectra are normalized in relation
to the maximum reflectivity at λB = 1538.46 nm for the case 0.2
where no acoustic wave is present. The reflectivity variations
for all the modulated spectra are evaluated only at this
0.0
wavelength. Fig. 4(a) shows the reflectivity changes for the 1537 1538 1539 1540
resonance at f = 216 kHz. The reflectivity at the Bragg Wavelength (nm)
resonance is reduced almost uniformly in the 1 to 4 V voltage
range without considerable changes in the spectrum shape.
This behavior is also observed for the resonances at f = 343 kHz off
1.0 (b) 1V
FBG normalized reflectivity

f = 343 kHz and 360 kHz, in Figs. 4(b) and 4(c), respectively. 2V
However, the reflectivity amplitude at f = 216 kHz is reduced 3V
0.8 4V
considerably in the 5 - 9 V voltage range and the spectrum 5V
bandwidth becomes wider. The reflectivity is reduced from 100 6V
to 33 % (67% reduction) and the 3-dB bandwidth increases 0.6 7V
8V
about 3 times (0.736 nm) when 9 V voltages are applied to the 9V
PZT. Nevertheless, the side lobes that compose the wider 0.4
bandwidth are not resolved in the FBG spectrum. According to
(3), the side lobe separation, Δλ, is small (Δλ = 31 - 71 pm) for
0.2
the frequency range evaluated (f = 216 – 497 kHz). Therefore,
the side lobes overlap each other and compose the wider
spectrum. Note in the spectrum that the side lobe reflectivity is 0.0
1537 1538 1539 1540
higher for the shorter wavelength range. This is because the
grating without modulation already has intrinsic lobes on the Wavelength (nm)
left side, which are probably due to the high reflectivity of the
grating. As a result, the overlap between these grating lobes f = 360 kHz off
and the acoustic induced lobes, cause higher reflectivity on the
1.0 (c) 1V
FBG normalized reflectivity

2V
left side of the Bragg resonance, which makes the modulated 3V
FBG to have an asymmetric spectrum. 0.8 4V
5V
Fig. 5(a) shows the FBG reflectivity behavior of resonances 6V
0.6 7V
for a set of voltages applied to the PZT. Note that the 8V
reflectivity reduction is larger for the resonance at f = 216 kHz. 9V
For this frequency and the acoustic velocity in silica of v = f λa 0.4
= 5740 m/s [8], the 5 cm fiber length is also resonant with two
longitudinal acoustic wavelengths of λa = 2.6 cm, which 0.2
contributes to reinforce the interaction. This effect is clearly
seen in Fig. 5(b) for the frequency response. The effect is
0.0
reduced for higher frequencies manly because the PZT 1537 1538 1539 1540
deformations are also reduced with the increase of frequency
Wavelength (nm)
[12]. The higher frequency also reduces the acoustic
wavelength, which naturally decreases the side lobe reflectivity
according to (1). The modulated reflectivity achieves saturation Fig. 4. Modulated FBG spectra at (a) f = 216 kHz, (b) 343 kHz and (c) 360
at f = 497 kHz and no relevant effect is observed after this kHz.

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 MOMAG 2014: 16º SBMO - Simpósio Brasileiro de Micro-ondas e Optoeletrônica e 11º CBMag - Congresso Brasileiro de
Eletromagnetismo

f = 216 kHz Ministério da Defesa - Projeto Pró-Defesa, and CNPq/FAPESP

(a) f = 343 kHz – INCT (FOTONICOM).
FBG normalized reflectivity

1.0 f = 360 kHz

f = 497 kHz Funding by the Thuringian Ministry of Education, Science
and Culture (EFRE program) is also gratefully acknowledged.
0.8
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0.6
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
[18] R. A. Oliveira, P. T. Neves Jr, J. T. Pereira, J, Canning, A. A. P. Pohl,
This work was supported in part by the Cordenação de “Vibration Mode Analysis of a Silica Horn Fiber Bragg Grating Device”
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