454 OPTICS LETTERS / Vol. 24, No.

7 / April 1, 1999

All-optical control of Bragg grating in semiconductor-coated

D-shaped fiber
R. M. Ribeiro,* L. R. Kawase,† and W. Margulis
Laboratório de Optoeletrônica, Departamento de Fı́sica, Pontı́ficia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro 22.453-900,
Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Brazil

B. Lesche
Instituto de Fı́sica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro 21.945-970, Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Brazil

B. Sahlgren, R. Stubbe, and K. Kleveby

Institute of Optical Research, Stockholm S100044, Sweden

Received January 11, 1999

A Bragg grating was fabricated in a D-shaped f iber that was subsequently coated with an a-Si:H
semiconductor f ilm. The ref lected spectrum was optically controlled by means of evanescent coupling,
shifting to shorter wavelengths with increased control-light power. The effective nonlinearity of the f iber
was 2.0 3 10210 cm2 yW . The device was optically tuned by 4.3 3 1024 nmymW, leading to 54% s.3-dBd depth
modulation for 230 mW of power.  1999 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: 230.1150, 230.1480, 230.4320, 160.2750, 060.4370.

Bragg gratings written in optical fibers are very use-
ful devices in telecommunication networks1 and sensor
technology.2 Because of the small optical nonlinear-
ity of silica glass, such devices are generally passive,
providing a constant ref lection coeff icient at a particu-
lar wavelength. Optical control can be achieved by
means of shifting the ref lected wavelength peak, mak-
ing possible a number of applications, such as pho-
tonic switching, data processing, and all-optical fiber
links.3 – 6 One approach to optical control is to record
Bragg gratings in rare-earth-doped fibers exhibiting
large optical nonlinearity,4 so that even a low-power
input pulse can affect the effective refractive index
of the grating. Another procedure is to launch high-
peak-power laser radiation into an undoped fiber3 or a
planar waveguide7 with a recorded Bragg grating and
rely on the third-order nonlinear Kerr effect. In this
Letter we describe the use of a Bragg grating recorded
in the core of a D-shaped fiber (D fiber) with a thin
layer of amorphous semiconductor film coating its f lat
surface [core D-shaped fiber Bragg grating (cD-FBG)].
The effective refractive index experienced by the
probe signal traveling in the core of a D fiber is
affected through evanescent coupling by the linear8,9
or the nonlinear10,11 refractivity of the film. Therefore
one can use the strong nonlinear optical properties
of hydrogenated amorphous semiconductors to alter
the ref lected spectrum, by affecting the semiconductor
optical constants, for example, with light and (or) heat.
One convenient way of doing this is by propagating an
optical control signal in the cD-FBG and changing the
refractive index of the film by means of evanescent-
wave coupling.
Figure 1 shows a schematic drawing of the experi-
mental setup. A diode-pumped (at 1.48 mm) Er31 -
doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) was employed as a
broadband probe light source emitting near 1.55 mm.
The probe light was launched through port 11 of a
3-dB fiber coupler (at 1.55 mm) (C). The light from
port 12 was then focused by a graded-index lens sL1 d
into the cD-FBG. The coupler also enabled us to
monitor the ref lected probe signal at port 21 by means
of an optical spectrum analyzer (OSA) with 0.05-nm
resolution. Port 22 of the coupler was index matched
(IM). The other end of the cD-FBG was butt coupled
to a standard telecom fiber, into which the control light
from a cw Nd:YAG laser was launched by lens L2 . The
control-light wavelength was 1.064 mm, and the input
power was varied from 0 to 1.30 W by use of a neutral-
density filter (NDF). The coupled light was 20% of the
available power.
The D fiber was pulled from a machined preform
with a 1.5-mm core diameter. The fiber was boron
codoped with ,15-mol.% Ge for increased photosensi-
tivity.12 The fiber had a core diameter of 7.6 mm and
a distance between the core edge and the f lat sur-
face of 5.0 mm (core –f lat distance). Bragg gratings
Fig. 1. Experimental setup. Inset, schematic view of the
cD-FBG.

0146-9592/99/070454-03$15.00/0  1999 Optical Society of America

 April 1, 1999 / Vol. 24, No. 7 / OPTICS LETTERS 455

were recorded by use of a frequency-doubled dye laser of the optical tuning of the cD-FBG. All the measure-
pumped with a XeCl excimer laser tuned to 242 nm. ments described here were reproducible.
In these experiments the gratings were 4 cm long and From the Bragg ref lection condition given by
were recorded by scanning of the fiber and writing of 2neff L ­ lBragg , it follows that DlBragg ylBragg ­
a set of consecutive subgratings with interferometric Dneff yneff 1 DLyL. Both strain and temperature in-
control of the relative position between the subgrat- crease lead to DlBragg . 0. In contrast, the Bragg
ings.13 The Bragg gratings were 90%-ref lective peak- grating ref lectivity peak shifts to a shorter wavelength
ing at 1552.70 nm, and the FWHM bandwidth was sDlBragg , 0d both when the grating is compressed5
0.17 nm (21 GHz). A 30-nm-thick a-Si:H film over- sDL , 0d and when the effective index neff sensed by
lay was deposited14 upon the f lat surface of the D fiber the probe light drops9 sDneff , 0d. The sign of the
along the grating region, allowing us to exploit the long wavelength shift illustrated in Fig. 3 probably arises
interaction length that was available as a result. The from a reduction in neff . Since the electronic and the
inset of Fig. 1 illustrates the cD-FBG schematically. thermal contributions to the nonlinear refactivity of
Figure 2 shows the effect of the control signal a-Si:H are opposite,15 the nature of the nonlinearity
on the probe optical radiation ref lected by the cD- behind the optical control of the cD-FBG is likely to be
FBG. Without coupling Nd:YAG light the ref lectiv- electronic.
ity peak occurs at 1552.70 nm. In the presence of the Therefore, assuming that the index change is due
control signal the ref lected spectrum was shifted to mainly to the Kerr effect fDneff ­ sn2 deff I g, the non-
shorter wavelengths. Increasing the coupled power of linear coeff icient jn2 jeff is given by
the control light to 230 mW led to a modulation depth Ç Ç
of 54% s.3 dBd at 1552.70 nm. Close to 100% modu- pD 2 neff Dlprobe .
lation is expected for a narrower-bandwidth s,0.1-nmd jn2 jeff ­ (1)
4lprobe DPcontrol
grating. Optical tuning did not appreciably affect the
shape and bandwidth of the cD-FBG ref lection spec-
By setting D ­ ,8.0 mm (effective mode diame-
trum, but the amplitude was slightly attenuated.
ter), neff ­ 1.46, lprobe ­ 1552.70 nm, and jDlprobe y
The optical loss of the Bragg grating at 1.064 mm
was small s,1%d. Although the absorption coefficient
of the semiconductor film is signif icant (a > 1 cm21
at this wavelength), the relatively large core –f lat
distance of 5.0 mm ensured10 a nearly uniform level of
coupled control light along the grating. It is therefore
unlikely that chirping develops as a result of a gradient
in the active film response.
To ensure that the effect was caused by the
semiconductor-coating layer we repeated the experi-
ment under the same conditions but with an uncoated
D-f iber Bragg grating. No probe-light wavelength
shifts were observed, even for higher control-light
power.
The left-hand line in Fig. 3 illustrates the steady-
state wavelength-ref lectivity peak shift of the cD-FBG
versus input control-light power. A linear dependence Fig. 2. Probe-ref lected spectrum from the cD-FBG for
was observed, along with a shift toward shorter wave- three levels of input control light power. The coupling
lengths as the optical power increased. The right- efficiency was 20%.
hand line is a plot of the temperature dependence of
another similar Bragg grating recorded on a cylindri-
cal boron-doped fiber. A linear dependence was also
observed, but it shifted toward longer wavelengths as
the fiber was heated. It is believed that the effect of
increased temperature should be the same whether it
is caused by an external thermal source or by heat-
ing of the semiconductor film with cw light. In the
latter case, because of the small core–f lat distance, it
is expected that heat diffusion from the semiconductor
layer will raise the temperature of the cladding and of
the core in such a way as to expand the period of the
grating L.
Extrapolating data from Fig. 3 by use of linear fit-
ting, we found tuning sensitivities for optical and
thermal control of 24.3 3 1024 nmymW and 19.5 3 Fig. 3. Wavelength peak shift for the probe ref lected
1023 nmyK, respectively. The slope of the thermal spectrum versus temperature (right line) and input con-
tuning is in good agreement with results published trol light-power (left line). The light-coupling eff iciency
elsewhere,5 and it has the opposite sign of the slope was 20%.
456 OPTICS LETTERS / Vol. 24, No. 7 / April 1, 1999
DPcontrol j ­ 4.3 3 1024 nmymW, we find that jn2 jeff ­
2.0 3 10210 cm2 yW. For coupled Pcontrol ­ 230 mW
the induced index change is Dneff ­ 9.4 3 1025 , which
should be compared with 1.6 3 1025 for the Yb31 -doped
fiber at 20-mW pump power.4
The dominant nonlinear mechanism at 1.064 mm
in crystalline silicon is electronic but deviates some-
what from an ideal third-order Kerr medium.7 The
nonlinear refractivities of crystalline silicon7 and
silica3 at 1.064 mm are of the orders of 10210 cm2 yW
and 10216 cm2 yW, respectively. Recently,16 it was
found experimentally that jx s3d jeff ­ 5.1 3 1027 esu
or jn2 jeff ­ 8.16 3 10210 cm2 yW (68% is electronic in
nature) for a-Si:H pumped at 0.532 mm and probed
at 0.633 mm. Although the nonlinear coeff icient has
not been measured for a similar system at 1.064 mm,
it was found that jn2 jeff ­ 2.4 3 10213 cm2 yW
in a a-SiC:H-coated D fiber and that the non-
linearity for a-Si:H was signif icantly larger than in
a-SiC:H.11 Therefore, the jn2 jeff value measured here
is consistent with previously published results.
Since electronic processes are generally much faster
s,1 nsd than thermal processes s,1 msd, the optical
control of the cD-FBG is likely to be fast. The ef-
fective electronic-index response is probably due to
the creation of an electron–hole plasma in the a-S:H
layer. Also, the electronic character of the refractivity
change suggests that the control depends on the peak
rather than on the average power.11 Although the
effective nonlinearity measured here is much lower
than in a doped fiber,4 the response time is limited
not by the metastable state decay but only by the
amorphous semiconductor carrier lifetime.11 Further,
since the interaction of the radiation with the semi-
conductor takes place through the evanescent field, its
magnitude depends strongly on the core –f lat distance,
which was far from optimized. Choosing the correct
semiconductor or structure for coating the f lat surface
of the D-FBG may make it possible to obtain larger
and faster nonlinearities. In general, the cD-FBG
response depends on the Bragg grating, the probe-light
spectrum, the control power, the strength of the
nonlinearity associated with the amorphous semicon-
ductor, and the evanescent coupling. Even modest
gain-switched semiconductor diode lasers generate
short pulses with peak power in the watts region, so
the device described here has the potential to be driven
by compact sources. Such a device is promising for use
in wavelength-division multiplexing, pulse shaping,
routing, or wavelength-selective filters. However,
further research is necessary to optimize the device
as well as to provide more knowledge of the complex
physical picture.
We thank Raman Kashyap of BT Laboratories for
fruitful discussions, Lino Misoguti and V. Bagnato
for the semiconductor coating of the fibers, S.
Celaschi of Centro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento do
Telebrás for the loan of the Er31 -doped fiber ampli-
fier, and the Conselho Nacı̀onal de Desenvolvimento
Cientı́f ico e Technológicio and Fudação de Amparo
à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro for financial
support.
*Present address, Programa de Engenharia
Biomédica, Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-
Graducao em Engenharia–Universidade Federale do
Rio de Janeiro 21.945-970, P.O. Box 68.564, Rio de
Janeiro/RJ, Brazil; e-mail address, rmr@rio.com.br.
†Present address, Departamento de Engenharia
de Telecomunicações, Universidade Federale Flumi-
nense 24.241-970, Niterói/RJ, Brazil.
References
1. R. J. Campbel and R. Kashyap, Int. J. Optoelectron. 9,
33 (1994).
2. Y. J. Rao, P. J. Henderson, D. A. Jackson, L. Zhang,
and I. Bennion, Electron. Lett. 33, 2063 (1997).
3. B. J. Eggleton, R. E. Slusher, J. B. Judkins, J. B. Stark,
and A. M. Vengsarkar, Opt. Lett. 22, 883 (1997).
4. M. Janos, J. Arkwright, and Z. Brodzeli, Electron. Lett.
33, 2150 (1997).
5. A. Iocco, H. G. Limberger, and R. P. Salathé, Electron.
Lett. 33, 2147 (1997).
6. J. L. Arce-Diego, R. López-Ruisánchez, J. M. López-
Higuera, and M. A. Muriel, Opt. Lett. 22, 603 (1997).
7. N. D. Sankey, D. F. Prelewitz, and T. G. Brown, Appl.
Phys. Lett. 60, 1427 (1992).
8. J. D. Freeze and R. H. Selfridge, Opt. Eng. 32, 3267
(1993).
9. A. Asseh, S. Sandgren, H. Ahlfeldt, B. Sahlgren, R.
Stubbe, and G. Edwall, Fiber Integr. Opt. 17, 51 (1998).
10. R. M. Ribeiro, L. R. Kawase, W. Margulis, and A.
Lidgard, Electron. Lett. 32, 1402 (1996).
11. R. M. Ribeiro and W. Margulis, Opt. Lett. 22, 111
(1997).
12. D. L. Williams, B. J. Ainslie, J. R. Armitage, R.
Kashyap, and R. Campbell, Electron. Lett. 29, 45
(1993).
13. R. Stubbe, B. Sahlgren, S. Sandgren, and A. As-
seh, in Photosensitivity and Quadratic Nonlinearity in
Glass Waveguides: Fundamentals and Applications,
Vol. 22 of OSA Technical Digest Series (Optical Soci-
ety of America, Washington, D.C., 1995), postdeadline
paper PD1.
14. J. F. Fragalli, L. Misoguti, N. Nakagaito, V. Grivickas,
H. M. Branz, and V. S. Bagnato, J. Appl. Phys. 70, 668
(1993).
15. P. M. Fauchet, D. Hulin, R. Vanderhaghen, A.
Mourchild, and W. L. Nighan, Jr., J. Non-Cryst. Solids
141, 76 (1992).
16. R. M. Ribeiro, W. Margulis, C. A. F. Leite, I. Guedes, L.
Misoguti, and V. S. Bagnato, Appl. Phys. Lett. 66, 1089
(1995).