Crystal Fibre A/s

Fianium Limited

Sumitomo Electric Industries, Limited

Nkt Photonics A/s

The Secretary of State for Defence in Her Britannic Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Qinetiq Limited

Nkt Research & Innovation A/s

Blazephotonics Limited

Crystal Fibre A/c

Jonathan Cave Knight

Timothy Adam Birks

Philip St John Russell

Brian Joseph Mangan

James Stone

Dmitry Vladimirovich Skryabin

Toshiki Taru

Philip St J Russell

Alan H Greenaway

Peter A Lloyd

William Wadsworth

David Bird

Tim Birks

Philip S Russell

Ian Patrick Kilbride

Phillip St John Russell

James Morgan Stone

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

All solid photonic bandgap optical fiber comprising a core region and a cladding region is disclosed. The cladding region surrounding the core region includes a background optical material having a first refractive index and elements arranged in a two-dimensional periodic structure. In one embodiment, each of the elements comprises a center part and peripheral part having a higher refractive than the central part. In other embodiments, each element comprises a plurality of rods having a higher refractive index higher than the fist, the rods of each element arranged in a circle or polygon. Light transmission apparatus and methods of using the fiber are also disclosed.

All solid photonic bandgap fiber

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.

Broad spectrum optical supercontinuum source

A method of manufacturing a microstructured fiber, includes: providing a preform having a plurality of elongate holes; mating at least one, but not all, of the holes with a connector to connect the hole(s) to an external pressure-controller; drawing the preform into the fiber while controlling gas pressure in the hole(s) connected to the pressure-controller.

Method of drawing microstructured glass optical fibers from a preform, and a preform combined with a connector

An optical transmission system comprising a laser light source arranged to emit light having a frequency &#x3c9;; and an optical transmission line adapted to guide the light, wherein said optical transmission line includes a photonic bandgap optical fibre having a core guided mode at frequency &#x3c9; and an attenuation band at a frequency of &#x3c9;-13 THz. The optical transmission system suppresses Raman scattered light thereby allowing high optical powers to be transmitted through optical fibre.

Optical power delivery system

A holey optical fibre for supporting propagation of light of a wavelength &#x3bb;,comprises a plurality of cylinders () each having a longitudinal axis, the cylinders () being separated from each other by regions of a matrix material () and having their longitudinal axes substantially parallel to each other. Each cylinder () has a diameter, in the plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, that is small enough for the composite material of the ensemble of cylinders and matrix material to be substantially optically homogenous in respect of light of wavelength &#x3bb;.

Preform holey optical fibre, a holey optical fibre, and a method for their production

A method of joining a first optical fiber () to a second optical fiber () comprises the steps of: (i) providing a preform element () comprising material defining a primary elongate cavity (); (ii) inserting the first optical fiber () into the primary cavity () to form a preform (); and (iii) drawing the second optical fiber () from the preform (); wherein, the second optical fiber () includes a core region comprising material that has been drawn from the first optical fiber ().

Method and apparatus relating to optical fibers

A photonic crystal fiber comprising a bulk material having an arrangement of longitudinal holes, the fiber including a cladding region and a guiding core (), the cladding region having an effective-refractive-index which varies across the fiber's cross section, wherein, in use, the effective-refractive-index variation causes light propagating in the fiber to have a different transverse profile from the profile that it would have if the cladding region were of a substantially uniform effective refractive index.

Photonic crystal fibers

This invention relates to an optical fibre that comprises a core () of lower refractive index that is surrounded by a cladding which includes regions of a higher refractive index and is substantially periodic, where the core () has a longest transverse dimension that is longer than a single, shortest period of the cladding. In a fibre of this type light is substantially confined to the core area by virtue of the photonic band gap of the cladding material. The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing such an optical fibre, comprising the steps of forming a stack of canes (), the stack () including at least one truncated cane () that defines an aperture (), and then drawing the stack () into a fibre having an elongate cavity. The fibre is suitable for high power uses, but is equally suitable for other areas, e.g. optical amplifiers, spectral filters, lasers, gas sensors and telecommunications networks.

Photonic crystal fibre and a method for its production

A photonic crystal fiber comprising a bulk material having an arrangement of longitudinal holes () and a guiding core (), wherein the fiber has at-most-two-fold rotational symmetry about a longitudinal axis and as a result of that lack of symmetry, the fiber is birefringent.

Photonic crystal fibres

In a method of producing a photonic crystal fibre, a preform () that includes holes is formed and the preform () is drawn into a fibre. The method includes the step of applying a pressure differential to certain of the holes to control changes in the fibre structure during the draw.

A photonic crystal fiber comprising: a core () having a refractive index; and a cladding region () at least substantially surrounding the core () and comprising a bulk material having a second refractive index that is higher that the first refractive index, the bulk material containing an arrangement of elongate, longitudinal holes that comprise hole material of a third refractive index that is lower than the first refractive index; such that an electromagnetic mode guided in the core () has an evanescent wave that becomes more closely confined to the vicinity of the core () as the wavelength of the electromagnetic mode is increased over a first range of wavelengths.

Photonic-crystal fibers and photonic-crystal fiber devices

A photonic crystal fiber including a plurality of longitudinal holes ( ), in which at least some of the holes have a different cross-sectional area in a first region ( ) of the fiber, that region having been heat-treated after fabrication of the fiber, from their cross-sectional area in a second region of the fiber ( ), wherein the optical properties of the fiber in the heat-treated region ( ) are altered by virtue of the change in cross-sectional area of holes ( ) in that region ( ).

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Bath, United Kingdom

Jonathan Cave Knight