Title :
Effects of acoustic reflection on the performance of a cladding-etched all-fiber acoustooptic variable optical attenuator
Author :
Au, Amy A. ; Li, Qun ; Lin, Chien-Hung ; Lee, H.P.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of California, Irvine, CA, USA
Abstract :
We analyzed the effects of acoustic reflection on the performance of an acoustooptic variable optical attenuator on a cladding-etched single-mode fiber. It is shown that the acoustic reflection will generate time-dependent modulation on the output optical signal and reduce the maximum achievable attenuation of the device. By employing a tapered fiber structure and using vacuum grease as the acoustic absorber, we showed that the acoustic reflectance can be reduced by two orders and the maximum attenuation of the device is increased from -10 to -29 dB.
Keywords :
acoustic wave reflection; acousto-optical filters; acousto-optical modulation; coupled mode analysis; etching; optical attenuators; optical fibre cladding; optical fibre filters; acoustic absorber; acoustic reflection; acoustooptic mode coupling; acoustooptic variable optical attenuator; cladding-etched single-mode fiber; coupled-mode equations; flexural acoustic wave; multistep etching process; output optical signal; tapered fiber structure; time-dependent modulation; vacuum grease; Acoustic propagation; Acoustic reflection; Acoustic waves; Attenuation; Etching; Gold; Optical attenuators; Optical coupling; Optical fiber devices; Signal generators;
Journal_Title :
Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/LPT.2003.819395
