Thinly coated hollow core fiber for improved thermal phase-stability performance
Thinly coated hollow core fiber for improved thermal phase-stability performance
The optical phase accumulated when light propagates through an optical fiber changes with temperature. It has been shown by various authors that this thermal phase sensitivity is significantly smaller in hollow core fibers (HCFs) than in standard single-mode fibers (SSMFs). However, there have been considerable differences in the level of sensitivity reduction claimed, with factors in the range ×3×3 to ×20×20 improvement for HCFs relative to SSMFs reported. Here we show experimentally that this large variation is likely attributable to the influence of fiber coating, which is exacerbated in HCFs with a relatively thin silica glass outer wall (e.g., the wall thickness is typically just 20 µm in a 125 µm diameter HCF). Further, we show that the coating also causes the optical phase stability to suffer from relaxation effects, which have not been previously discussed in the HCF literature, to the best of our knowledge. In addition to demonstrating these relaxation effects experimentally, we analyze them through numerical simulations. Our results strongly suggest that they originate from the viscoelastic properties of the coating. To minimize the adverse effects of the coating, we have fabricated a HCF with a relatively thick wall (∼50µm∼50µm) and a very thin coating (10 µm). This results in an almost 30-fold reduction in HCF thermal phase sensitivity relative to SSMFs – a significantly lower sensitivity than in previous reports. Moreover, our thinly coated HCF exhibits no discernable relaxation effects while maintaining good mechanical properties.
5177 - 5180
Shi, Bo
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Sakr, Hesham
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Hayes, John R.
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Wei, Xuhao
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Numkam Fokoua, Eric
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Ding, Meng
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Feng, Zitong
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Marra, Giuseppe
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Poletti, Francesco
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Richardson, David J.
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Slavík, Radan
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11 October 2021
Shi, Bo
82147c8a-5263-460b-a260-a863aab0874f
Sakr, Hesham
5ec2d89f-ab6e-4690-bbfd-b95fa4cb792d
Hayes, John R.
a6d3acd6-d7d5-4614-970e-0e8c594e48e2
Wei, Xuhao
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Numkam Fokoua, Eric
6d9f7e50-dc3b-440a-a0b9-f4a08dd02ccd
Ding, Meng
4ce864fb-eb5c-47d6-8902-7b3785a162d7
Feng, Zitong
21760dcd-7979-4733-bc84-dea53c64a81c
Marra, Giuseppe
d76bb79b-27dd-4231-bdbc-d8c92cce88ea
Poletti, Francesco
9adcef99-5558-4644-96d7-ce24b5897491
Richardson, David J.
ebfe1ff9-d0c2-4e52-b7ae-c1b13bccdef3
Slavík, Radan
2591726a-ecc0-4d1a-8e1d-4d0fd8da8f7d
Shi, Bo, Sakr, Hesham, Hayes, John R., Wei, Xuhao, Numkam Fokoua, Eric, Ding, Meng, Feng, Zitong, Marra, Giuseppe, Poletti, Francesco, Richardson, David J. and Slavík, Radan
(2021)
Thinly coated hollow core fiber for improved thermal phase-stability performance.
Optics Letters, .
(doi:10.1364/OL.438302).
Abstract
The optical phase accumulated when light propagates through an optical fiber changes with temperature. It has been shown by various authors that this thermal phase sensitivity is significantly smaller in hollow core fibers (HCFs) than in standard single-mode fibers (SSMFs). However, there have been considerable differences in the level of sensitivity reduction claimed, with factors in the range ×3×3 to ×20×20 improvement for HCFs relative to SSMFs reported. Here we show experimentally that this large variation is likely attributable to the influence of fiber coating, which is exacerbated in HCFs with a relatively thin silica glass outer wall (e.g., the wall thickness is typically just 20 µm in a 125 µm diameter HCF). Further, we show that the coating also causes the optical phase stability to suffer from relaxation effects, which have not been previously discussed in the HCF literature, to the best of our knowledge. In addition to demonstrating these relaxation effects experimentally, we analyze them through numerical simulations. Our results strongly suggest that they originate from the viscoelastic properties of the coating. To minimize the adverse effects of the coating, we have fabricated a HCF with a relatively thick wall (∼50µm∼50µm) and a very thin coating (10 µm). This results in an almost 30-fold reduction in HCF thermal phase sensitivity relative to SSMFs – a significantly lower sensitivity than in previous reports. Moreover, our thinly coated HCF exhibits no discernable relaxation effects while maintaining good mechanical properties.
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OL2021_Bo_ThinlyCoated_Revision_Final
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Accepted/In Press date: 19 September 2021
Published date: 11 October 2021
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 453714
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/453714
ISSN: 0146-9592
PURE UUID: 248f5aa3-7ffb-475b-a9cc-351a8aa3c494
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Date deposited: 21 Jan 2022 17:35
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:57
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Contributors
Author:
Bo Shi
Author:
Hesham Sakr
Author:
John R. Hayes
Author:
Xuhao Wei
Author:
Eric Numkam Fokoua
Author:
Meng Ding
Author:
Zitong Feng
Author:
Giuseppe Marra
Author:
Francesco Poletti
Author:
Radan Slavík
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