1.School of Information Science and Engineering, the Key Laboratory for Special Fiber and Fiber Sensor of Hebei Province, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China 2.College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Hebei Normal University of Science and Technology, Qinhuangdao 066004, China 3.Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Hebei Construction Material Vocational and Technical College, Qinhuangdao 066004, China
Fund Project:Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61475133, 61575170, 61605168), the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province, China (Grant No. F2016203392), the Key Basic Research Program of Hebei Province, China (Grant No. 16961701D), College and University Science and Technology Research Project of Hebei Province, China (Grant No. QN2016078), and the Intramural Doctoral Foundation of Yanshan University, China (Grant No. B1011).
Received Date:08 September 2018
Accepted Date:08 November 2018
Available Online:01 March 2019
Published Online:05 March 2019
Abstract:Mode-division multiplexing (MDM), as one of the promising techniques for overcoming current limitation of transmission capacity in single-mode fibers (SMFs), has attracted considerable attention. A key component in the MDM system is a mode converter, which makes conversion between the fundamental mode and the higher-order mode. Many mode converters have been demonstrated, such as spatial light modulators, phase plates, silicon-based asymmetrical directional couplers, fiber-based photonic lantern, and long period fiber grating (LPFG). Compared with other methods, mode converter used LPFG is a very feasible technique, which has the advantages of small size, low loss, low backward noise, high coupling efficiency and easy fabrication. However, the limitation of the mode converter is relatively narrow bandwidth. In this paper, a novel broadband all-fiber mode converter is proposed, in which two long period fiber gratings (LPFGs) with different periods are fabricated in the same spatial domain of few-mode fiber to achieve coupling from LP01 to LP11, thus forming superimposed long period fiber gratings (SLPFGs). The influences of grating parameters, such as the interval between two periods, the length of grating and the coupling coefficient on the mode converter, are analyzed by numerical simulation. It is found that the gap between the two resonant wavelengths becomes smaller with the periodic interval decreasing, which can form one rejection band when the gap is small enough, thus a broadband mode converter can be realized. The corresponding bandwidth at a conversion efficiency of 10 dB is about twice that of traditional LPFG. Moreover, with the increase of grating length, the conversion efficiency first increases and then decreases, because coupling efficiency experiences deficient coupling, full coupling and over coupling. The effect of coupling coefficient on converter is similar to that of grating length. According to the numerical results, grating I is fabricated with ${\varLambda _1} = 673\;{\text{μ}}{\rm m} $, 35-period. After that, the platform is rotated 180° and grating II is fabricated with ${\varLambda _2} = 688\; {\text{μ}}{\rm m}$, 35-period by CO2 laser in tow mode fiber (TMF steped-index fiber). The bandwidths of both LPFGs at a conversion efficiency of 10 dB are about 57 nm and 67 nm respectively, while the bandwidth of SLPFG is about 153 nm. The experimental results are in pretty good agreement with the theoretical analyses. In addition, the proposed superimposed structure can also be extended to the conversion of fundamental mode into other high-order core modes. By designing the period of two sub-gratings reasonably, a wide band rejection filter with arbitrary wavelength can be realized. Compared with the traditional mode converter, the converter has the advantages of broad bandwidth, high conversion efficiency and small size, which can be widely used in the mode division multiplexing system and optical communication. Keywords:superimposed long period fiber gratings/ few mode fiber/ mode converter/ coupling coefficient