Abstract
We report what we believe to be the first quantitative determination of strain-induced birefringence variations in polarization maintaining fibers (PMFs). The measurement method is based on the ghost-peak-free scanning white light interferometer based distributed polarization crosstalk analysis technique with two fusion-splicing-induced polarization crosstalk reference peaks, as the strain-induced birefringence variation causes a change of the spacing between the two peaks. Two types of commercial PMF samples (Panda and Bow-tie) are measured and the experimental data are fitted to a linear equation using the least squares method with a high goodness of fit. The strain coefficients of birefringence
$1.60 \times {10^{ - 8}}/\mu \varepsilon $
and
$1.06 \times {10^{ - 8}}/\mu \varepsilon $
are obtained for the Panda and Bow-tie PMFs, with uncertainties of 4.84% and 7.81%, respectively. Our error analysis indicates that the measurement uncertainty can be readily reduced to be less than 1% if the accuracy of the variable delay line used in the interferometer of the distributed polarization crosstalk analyzer can be improved to be ≤0.6 μm and the temperature variations can be compensated in final calculations by actively monitoring the temperature during the measurement.
PDF Article
More Like This
Cited By
You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.
Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription
Add to BibSonomy