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Gas-induced differential refractive index enhanced guidance in hollow-core optical fibers

Gas-induced differential refractive index enhanced guidance in hollow-core optical fibers
Gas-induced differential refractive index enhanced guidance in hollow-core optical fibers

Hollow-core fibers (HCFs) are a potentially transformative fiber technology, where light is confined within a hollow core surrounded by a cladding composed of air holes defined by glass membranes. Dramatic reductions in the minimum losses achieved in a HCF are driving forward their application in low-latency data transmission and ultrahigh-power delivery, and maximizing their performance is of increasing interest. Here, we demonstrate that introducing an extremely small gas-induced differential refractive index (GDRI) between the gas within the core and cladding regions of a HCF enables dramatic changes to a HCF's optical properties, including loss, bend loss, and modality. Within this work, we focus on a tubular HCF and demonstrate through experiment and simulations that the confinement loss of this fiber can be reduced by a factor of 5 using a differential pressure of only 6.7 bar. Understanding GDRI is critical for applications where the gas content within the fiber is actively controlled. Moreover, GDRI provides a new means to control the optical properties of a HCF post-fabrication, opening up new areas of design space and providing a tool to tailor and enhance the optical performance of even state-of-The-Art HCFs.

2334-2536
916-920
Kelly, Thomas William
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Horak, Peter
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Davidson, Ian
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Partridge, Matthew C
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Jasion, Gregory
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Rikimi, Shuichiro
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Taranta, Austin
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Richardson, David J.
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Poletti, Francesco
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Wheeler, Natalie
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Kelly, Thomas William
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Horak, Peter
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Davidson, Ian
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Partridge, Matthew C
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Jasion, Gregory
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Rikimi, Shuichiro
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Taranta, Austin
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Richardson, David J.
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Poletti, Francesco
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Wheeler, Natalie
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Kelly, Thomas William, Horak, Peter, Davidson, Ian, Partridge, Matthew C, Jasion, Gregory, Rikimi, Shuichiro, Taranta, Austin, Richardson, David J., Poletti, Francesco and Wheeler, Natalie (2021) Gas-induced differential refractive index enhanced guidance in hollow-core optical fibers. Optica, 8 (6), 916-920. (doi:10.1364/OPTICA.424224).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Hollow-core fibers (HCFs) are a potentially transformative fiber technology, where light is confined within a hollow core surrounded by a cladding composed of air holes defined by glass membranes. Dramatic reductions in the minimum losses achieved in a HCF are driving forward their application in low-latency data transmission and ultrahigh-power delivery, and maximizing their performance is of increasing interest. Here, we demonstrate that introducing an extremely small gas-induced differential refractive index (GDRI) between the gas within the core and cladding regions of a HCF enables dramatic changes to a HCF's optical properties, including loss, bend loss, and modality. Within this work, we focus on a tubular HCF and demonstrate through experiment and simulations that the confinement loss of this fiber can be reduced by a factor of 5 using a differential pressure of only 6.7 bar. Understanding GDRI is critical for applications where the gas content within the fiber is actively controlled. Moreover, GDRI provides a new means to control the optical properties of a HCF post-fabrication, opening up new areas of design space and providing a tool to tailor and enhance the optical performance of even state-of-The-Art HCFs.

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Accepted/In Press date: 13 May 2021
Published date: 20 June 2021
Additional Information: Funding Information: Acknowledgment. The authors gratefully acknowledge support from EPSRC Programme grant “AirGuide Photonics”. Furthermore, T.K. acknowledges support for his PhD studentship from IS-Instruments and N.V.W. gratefully acknowledges support from a Royal Society University Research Fellowship.

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 449907
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/449907
ISSN: 2334-2536
PURE UUID: dbaeb064-aaea-475e-bee2-ec16295db63d
ORCID for Peter Horak: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8710-8764
ORCID for Gregory Jasion: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-5030-6479
ORCID for Austin Taranta: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5666-6800
ORCID for David J. Richardson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7751-1058
ORCID for Francesco Poletti: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1000-3083
ORCID for Natalie Wheeler: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1265-9510

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 24 Jun 2021 16:31
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:40

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Contributors

Author: Peter Horak ORCID iD
Author: Ian Davidson
Author: Matthew C Partridge
Author: Gregory Jasion ORCID iD
Author: Shuichiro Rikimi
Author: Austin Taranta ORCID iD
Author: Natalie Wheeler ORCID iD

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