Fianium Limited

The University of Bath

The University of Edinburgh

Nkt Photonics A/s

James Stone

Jonathan Cave Knight

Dmitry Vladimirovich Skryabin

Kerrianne Harrington

Harry A C Wood

A method of forming an imaging fibre apparatus comprises: •arranging core rodsand cladding rodsto form at least one primary stack, each primary stackcomprising a plurality of core rodsand cladding rodsarranged in a stack arrangement thereby to form a plurality of core regions within a cladding region; •performing a drawing process to form a plurality of drawn stacks from the at least one primary stack; •wherein the plurality of core rods and cladding rods are further arranged to have a selected shape such that the plurality of stacks stack together in a desired arrangement and wherein the stack arrangement comprises an at least partial outer layer of cladding rods thereby to provide separation between core regions of respective adjacent stacks when stacked in the desired arrangement, the method further comprising: •stacking the plurality of drawn stacks together in the desired arrangement to form a further stack; •drawing the further stack; and •using the drawn further stack to form an imaging fibre apparatus.

Coherent imaging fibre and method

A method of forming an imaging fibre apparatus comprises arranging rods to form a plurality of stacks each comprising a respective plurality of rods, wherein: for each stack, the respective plurality of rods comprises rods having different core sizes, the rods of different core sizes being arranged in a selected arrangement, and the rods of different core sizes being arranged such that each stack has a respective selected shape; wherein the selected shape or shapes are such that the stacks stack together in a desired arrangement; the method further comprising: drawing each of the plurality of stacks; stacking together the plurality of drawn stacks together in the desired arrangement to form a further stack; drawing the further stack; and using the drawn further stack to form an imaging fibre apparatus, wherein the selected arrangement of the rods in each stack and the selected shape or shapes of the stacks are such that the further stack comprises a repeating pattern of rods of different core sizes.

Method of making an imaging fibre apparatus and optial fibre apparatus with different core

Method of making an imaging fibre apparatus and optical fibre apparatus with different core

A source of optical supercontinuum radiation comprises a length of microstructured optical fiber and a pump laser adapted to generate lasing radiation at a pump wavelength. The length of microstructured optical fiber is arranged to receive lasing radiation at the pump wavelength to generate optical supercontinuum radiation and comprises a core region and a cladding region which surrounds the core region. The source of optical supercontinuum radiation is arranged such that at a location along the length of the microstructured optical fiber (a) the microstructured optical fiber comprises a group index (GI) versus wavelength curve having a zero crossing wavelength (ZCW) at which the group velocity dispersion has a zero crossing and such that the GI increases for wavelengths away from the ZCW such that the curve includes group indices that are greater than the GI at the ZCW for wavelengths greater than as well as less than the ZCW; (b) light having a wavelength of greater than 2000 nm propagates along the length of microstructured optical fiber and has a GI that is matched to the GI of light that propagates along the length of microstructured optical fiber and that has a wavelength of less than 400 nm; and (c) the pump wavelength is within 200 nm of the ZCW.

Extended spectrum supercontinuum pulse source

A source of optical supercontinuum radiation comprises a length of microstructured optical fiber and a pump laser, the pump laser adapted to generate lasing radiation having a pump wavelength in the wavelength range of 900 nm to 1200 nm for generating an optical supercontinuum, the length of microstructured optical fibre comprising a core region having a diameter in the range of 1 &#x3bc;m to 5 &#x3bc;m and a cladding region which surrounds the core region; the cladding region comprising at least two capillary air holes having substantially the same diameter and which extend substantially along the length of the fibre; the fiber comprising a zero dispersion wavelength within &#xb1;200 nm of said pump wavelength; wherein the length of microstructured fiber can support a plurality of modes at said pump wavelength; and wherein said lasing radiation at said pump wavelength is launched into said core region of said length of microstructured optical fiber to excite the fundamental mode of the fiber. In one practice, the source of optical supercontinuum radiation does not include a pump laser arranged for generating the optical supercontinuum and pumping said length of microstructured optical fiber at a wavelength different from a wavelength within the wavelength range.

Supercontinuum pulse source with enhanced spectrum

A source of optical supercontinuum radiation is disclosed, for generating blue-enhanced spectral components using a pump wavelength of substantially 1064 nm. The source comprises a microstructured optical fibre and a pump laser arranged to generate lasing radiation at the pump wavelength of substantially 1064 nm. The microstructured optical fibre comprises a core region and a cladding region which surrounds the core region and the pump laser is adapted to launch the lasing radiation at the pump wavelength into the core region of the microstructured optical fiber to excite the fundamental mode of the fibre. The fiber comprises a zero dispersion wavelength within &#xb1;200 nm of the pump wavelength and can support a plurality of modes at the pump wavelength.

Source of optical supercontinuum radiation

An optical supercontinuum radiation source for generating a broad optical supercontinuum from pump radiation having a wavelength in the range 900 nm to 1200 nm includes a microstructured optical fiber and a pump laser adapted to generate pump radiation for pumping the microstructured optical fiber. The fiber can have a &#x394; ('delta') value of greater than 0.3, the core region of the fiber can support a plurality of modes at the pump wavelength, and the cladding region can comprise at least two air holes extending along the length of fiber wherein the ratio of the diameter (d) of the air holes to their pitch (&#x39b;) is greater than 0.6. The fiber can comprise a zero dispersion wavelength (ZDW) within &#xb1;200 nm of said pump wavelength.

Growing community of inventors

Bath, United Kingdom

James Stone