An all-fiber setup to store and retrieve light pulses using electric control is presented. The experiment is based on a Sagnac interferometer with a phase modulator fabricated using a poled fiber with internal electrodes.

Electrical corona discharge is employed in this work to deposit ions on the surface of an optical fiber, creating a strong electric field that is used for poling. Green laser light propagating in the core frees photocarriers that are displaced by the poling field. The technique presented can induce a higher optical nonlinearity than previously obtained in traditional optical poling with internal metal electrodes. To date, a maximum second order nonlinearity 0.13 pm/V has been achieved for a 15 kV corona discharge bias. 

This work describes the use of FBGs inscribed in optical fiber with electrodes for voltage sensing. The results show a quadratic voltage dependence. The device can be explored for a multipoint, single-ended voltage sensing device.

Fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) in a poled silicate fiber are used to detect external voltage applied to the fiber's internal electrodes. This work shows a basic proof-of-concept of a single-ended, fiber-based voltage sensor that can be used to measure periodic high-voltage signals. The setup can be extended to a multiplexed e-field interrogation system and used in the electric power industry for remote sensing of transmission lines and power plants..

A second-order nonlinearity was induced in silica fibers poled by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation and simultaneous high voltage applied to internal electrodes. The UV light source was a tubular lamp with spectral peak at 254 nm. The highest second-order nonlinear coefficient measured through the linear electro-optic effect was 0.062 pm/V. The erasure of the recorded voltage with UV excitation was studied, and the stability of the poled fiber at a temperature exceeding ~400 K was investigated. By eliminating the use of a focused laser beam as excitation source, the technique enables poling many pieces of fiber in parallel.

Silicate fibers with internal electrodes are optically poled without a laser by side-exposure to radiation from a UV tubular lamp. Electrooptic coefficients κ(2)∼ 0.04 pm/V and Vπ = 810 V are obtained

We demonstrate the addition of time gating to a standard optical spectrum analyzer (OSA) operating in the spectral region ∼ 1.06 μm. This is accomplished by opening for 7 ns the optical input to the OSA with an electrically driven poled fiber in a Sagnac loop. The sequential interrogation with nanosecond resolution of the reflection from three fiber Bragg gratings along a piece of fiber allows distinguishing the spectral peaks created with a minimum separation of 85 cm. The passive extinction ratio of this device is >40 dB and returns to >40 dB from >23 dB on a 35-ns time scale directly after time gating.

Recent progress in thermal poling of silica fibers is reviewed. It is demonstrated that state-of-the-art poled fibers can be used in a number of practical applications. Challenges for further development of poled fiber devices are discussed and possible solutions proposed.

A tunable single-wavelength Erbium-doped all-fiber laser was experimentally demonstrated. The tuning is obtained with a stress-optic phase modulator based on a twin-hole fiber and a chirped fiber Bragg grating in a medium birefringence fiber.