Plasmon-phonon-polariton modes and field enhancement in graphene-coated hexagon boron nitride nanowire pairs.

Both plasmon-phonon-polariton (SPP-PHP) modes and phonon-polariton (PHP) modes supported in graphene-coated hexagon boron nitride (h-BN) single nanowire are presented. The field distributions of the lowest 5 order modes of SPP-PHP modes supported in graphene-coated hexagon boron nitride nanowire pairs (SPP-PHP-GHNP) and the lowest 5 order modes of PHP modes supported in graphene-coated hexagon boron nitride nanowire pairs (GHNP) are also demonstrated and analyzed, respectively. The results of numerical calculation show that SPP-PHP-GHNP mode 0 owns the strongest confinement and lowest loss among the lowest 5 order modes of SPP-PHP-GHNP. Furthermore, the field enhancement of SPP-PHP-GHNP mode 0 can reach over 105 by controlling the geometry parameters of GHNP. Meanwhile, the influence of tuning the Fermi level of graphene on the field enhancement is also presented in the paper. The proposed structure may improve the development of graphene-h-BN-based optoelectronic devices.

High-sensitivity measurement of angular velocity based on an optoelectronic oscillator with an intra-loop Sagnac interferometer.

A novel scheme for angular velocity measurement is proposed and demonstrated by using an optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) incorporating a Sagnac interferometer. In the OEO resonant cavity, the optical carrier (OC) and the first-order sidebands propagate in opposite directions in the Sagnac loop. Thus, the rotation-induced Sagnac phase difference between the OC and first-order sidebands will produce an oscillating frequency shift of the OEO which is proportional to the rotation angular velocity. Then a high-sensitivity angular velocity measurement is realized by monitoring the oscillating microwave frequency. The system is free from the lock-in problem, and the sensitivity scale is measured to be 51.8 kHz/(rad/s) which is equivalent to a minimally detectable angular velocity of 3.98°/h with a frequency shift of 1 Hz.

Two-dimensional tunable orbital angular momentum generation using a vortex fiber.

We demonstrate the two-dimensional tunable orbital angular momentum (OAM) generation in a ring-core (vortex) fiber. The LP11 mode generated by an all fiber fused coupler is coupled into a vortex fiber. Because the vector modes of the LP11 mode group in the vortex fiber are no longer degenerate, the mode status will change between linearly polarized modes (LPMs) and complex OAM modes periodically during propagation. The generated OAM can be tuned smoothly by filtering the mixed mode with different polarization directions or changing the wavelength at a certain polarization directions. The two-dimensional tuning of OAM from l=-1 to l=+1 is experimentally demonstrated in an all fiber OAM generator.

Plasmonic in-plane total internal reflection: azimuthal polarized beam focusing and application.

Due to the characteristic of surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) excitation, radial polarized beams and circular polarized beams are widely used for plasmonic lens and plasmonic near field focusing. In this paper, a plasmonic lens based on in-plane total internal reflection (TIR) scheme is proposed and numerically demonstrated to achieve the simultaneous nanofocusing of azimuthal and radial polarized beams. By means of the in-plane TIR mechanism, the operation bandwidth of lens ranges from visible light to mid-infrared. The proposed structure has been utilized in the design of a plasmonic liquid refractive index sensor and is expected to find potential applications in near-field optical energy focusing, near-field imaging and sensing.

Experimental and theoretical study of the in- fiber twist sensor based on quasi-fan Solc structure filter.

In this paper, a novel quasi-fan Solc structure filter based on elliptical-core spun fiber for twist sensing has been experimentally investigated and theoretically analyzed. The discrete model of spun fiber has been built to analyze the transmission characteristics of proposed sensor. Both experimental and simulated results indicate that the extinction ratio of the comb spectrum based on quasi-fan Solc birefringent fiber filter varies with twist angle and agrees well with each other. Based on the intensity modulation, the proposed twist sensor exhibits a high sensitivity of 0.02219 dB/(°/m). Moreover, thanks to the invariability of the fiber birefringence and the state of polarization of the input light, the proposed twist sensor has a very low temperature and strain sensitivity, which can avoid the cross-sensitivity problem existing in most twist sensors.

Bending effect characterization of individual higher-order modes in few-mode fibers.

We propose an approach to directly measure the bending effect on individual modes in few-mode fibers using a wavelength-scanning spatially and spectrally resolved imaging technique. By collecting a fiber output beam profile with a scanning wavelength at different bending diameters and analyzing the peaks of its Fourier transformation, we have distinguished higher-order modes (HOMs) of the fiber and investigated their group delay, beam profile, bend loss, and mode splitting individually. We have experimentally verified with a multilayer core fiber at 1-8 cm bending diameters that its HOMs experience more loss compared to lower-order modes, but delay at approximately the same speed as the bending diameter decreases. Mode splitting of the LP11 mode at a small bending diameter due to bending-induced birefringence is also observed and discussed. This method provides an efficient tool to study the bending effect on individual HOMs in fibers and could be extended to studying fiber stretching and twisting.

General description and understanding of the nonlinear dynamics of mode-locked fiber lasers.

As a type of nonlinear system with complexity, mode-locked fiber lasers are known for their complex behaviour. It is a challenging task to understand the fundamental physics behind such complex behaviour, and a unified description for the nonlinear behaviour and the systematic and quantitative analysis of the underlying mechanisms of these lasers have not been developed. Here, we present a complexity science-based theoretical framework for understanding the behaviour of mode-locked fiber lasers by going beyond reductionism. This hierarchically structured framework provides a model with variable dimensionality, resulting in a simple view that can be used to systematically describe complex states. Moreover, research into the attractors' basins reveals the origin of stochasticity, hysteresis and multistability in these systems and presents a new method for quantitative analysis of these nonlinear phenomena. These findings pave the way for dynamics analysis and system designs of mode-locked fiber lasers. We expect that this paradigm will also enable potential applications in diverse research fields related to complex nonlinear phenomena.

Linearly polarized orbital angular momentum mode purity measurement in optical fibers.

We presented a simple method for measuring the mode purity of linearly polarized orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes in optical fibers. The method is based on the analysis of OAM beam projections filtered by a polarizer. The amplitude spectrum and phase spectrum of a data ring derived from the beam pattern are obtained by Fourier transform. Then the coefficients of the mixed electric field expression can be determined and the mode purity can be obtained. The proposed method is validated and it is experimentally demonstrated in a two-mode fiber.

Guiding terahertz orbital angular momentum beams in multimode Kagome hollow-core fibers.

We explore terahertz (THz) orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes supported in multimode Kagome hollow-core fibers. Numerical models are adopted to characterize the effective indices and confinement losses of vector modes over 0.2-0.9 THz, where two low-loss transmission windows are observed. Linearly combining the vector modes, THz OAM states can be generated. Covering a broad bandwidth of 0.25 THz, the purity values of OAM modes are beyond 0.9. Using numerical simulations, the hollow-core THz fibers with one and two rings of Kagome structures are also comparably investigated. We reveal that the OAM purity is dependent upon the confinement performance of THz fiber.

Strong light confinement and gradient force in a hexagonal boron nitride slot waveguide.

In this Letter, we show that a hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) slot waveguide can achieve strong field enhancement and light confinement in a slot region and a giant gradient force between h-BN slabs. Excellent agreement between simulations and results from an analytical model is observed. In a two-dimensional case, a field enhancement ratio near 60, a power confinement ratio of 80%, and a gradient force over -8.5 nN/µm×mW have been achieved, which are much higher than the slot waveguide based on artificial hyperbolic metamaterials. The gradient force and power confinement ratio in a three-dimensional slot waveguide structure are also studied. A gradient force of -1.2 nN/mW and a power confinement ratio of 50% have been obtained. The h-BN slot waveguide may have potential in particle manipulation.

Nanofocusing of hybrid plasmons-phonons-polaritons in a graphene-hexagonal boron nitride heterostructure.

In this Letter, we investigate the nanofocusing of hybrid plasmons-phonons-polaritons (SPP-HPhPs) in a graphene-hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) heterostructure with a graphene coating on a tapered h-BN slab. Compared with the hyperbolic phonon polariton (HPhP) in h-BN, the hybrid SPP-HPhP in a heterostructure exhibits much smaller losses, which is validated through both analytical and numerical methods. Furthermore, the thickness dependent dispersions of a hybrid SPP-HPhP enable the tapered heterostructure to achieve a function of focusing electromagnetic waves. Compared with the tapered h-BN slab, the field enhancement in a tapered heterostructure is improved evidently with a maximum enhancement of the amplitude of normalized electric field over 60. This nanofocusing scheme may have potential in applications such as nonlinear optics.

Linearly polarized single TM mode terahertz waveguide.

We design a hollow-core terahertz (THz) waveguide guiding a single linearly polarized mode. This is achieved using a hybrid cladding, where we introduce a ring of subwavelength structures, including metal wires and air-holes. The wire-based cladding is extremely anisotropic, reflecting only transverse magnetic (TM) modes. The polarization of TM modes is further manipulated by replacing some wires with air-holes. Numerical simulations confirm the guidance of only an x-polarized TM2 mode over 0.36-0.46 THz in a wavelength-scale core (diameter of 1 mm). The propagation losses are of the order 0.25 dB/cm, with low bend losses <0.3 dB/cm at 0.4 THz for a bend radius of 5 cm.

Tunable orbital angular momentum generation in optical fibers.

We present a method in this Letter to generate optical vortices with tunable orbital angular momentum (OAM) in optical fibers. The tunable OAM optical vortex is produced by combining different vector modes HE2,meven (HE2,modd) and TE0,m (TM0,m) when l=1 or combining HEl+1,meven (HEl+1,modd) and EHl-1,modd (EHl-1,meven) when l>1 with a π/2 phase shift. The vortex can be regarded as a result of overlapping two orthogonal optical vortex beams of equal helicity but opposite chirality with a π/2 phase shift. We have experimentally demonstrated the smooth variation of OAM from l=-1 to l=+1 by adjusting a polarizer at the output end of the fiber.

Broadband orbital angular momentum transmission using a hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber.

We present the viability of exploiting a current hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber (HC-PBGF) to support orbital angular momentum (OAM) states. The photonic bandgap intrinsically provides a large refractive index spacing for guiding light, leading to OAM transmission with low crosstalk. From numerical simulations, a broad OAM±1 mode transmission window with satisfied effective index separations between vector modes (>10-4) and low confinement loss (<3 dB/km) covering 240 nm bandwidth is observed. The OAM purity (defined as normalized power weight for OAM mode) is found to be affected by the modal effective area. Simulation results also show HC-PBGF based OAM transmission is immune to fabrication inaccuracies near the hollow core. This work illustrates that HC-PBGF is a competitive candidate for high-capacity communication harnessing OAM multiplexing.

Graphene circular polarization analyzer based on unidirectional excitation of plasmons.

In this paper we propose a method of unidirectional excitation of graphene plasmons via metal nanoantenna arrays and reveal its application in a circular polarization analyzer. For nanoantenna pairs with orthogonal orientations, the graphene plasmons are excited through antenna resonances with the direction of propagation can be controlled by incident polarization. On the other hand, based on the spiral shape distribution of antenna arrays, a circular polarization analyzer can be obtained via the interaction of geometric phase effect of antenna arrays and the chirality carried by incident polarization. By utilizing the unidirectional excitation of plasmons, the extinction ratio of analyzer can be improved to over 103, which is at least an order of magnitude larger than the result of antenna pairs with same orientations or antenna arrays with closed circular shape formation. The proposed analyzer may find applications in analyzing chiral molecules using different circularly polarized waves.

Multi-trench fiber with four gaps for improved bend performance.

A modified multi-trench fiber (MTF) design with gaps to create leakage channels is proposed and investigated numerically using the scalar finite-difference beam-propagation method algorithm. Great potential in single-mode operation, mode area enlargement, and resistance to bending is demonstrated. A high loss ratio (>50) between high-order modes and the fundamental mode is possible over a wide range of high-index ring thickness, gap width, and bending orientation. This reduces the required fabrication accuracy. We obtain an effective area of 920 µm2 at a wavelength of 1050 nm and a 20 cm bend radius with a high loss ratio (>100). Our modified gap MTF can possibly be fabricated by drilling holes in an ordinary MTF and inserting rods into the holes.

Graphene circular polarization analyzer based on spiral metal triangle antennas arrays.

In this paper we propose a circular polarization analyzer based on spiral metal triangle antenna arrays deposited on graphene. Via the dipole antenna resonances, plasmons are excited on graphene surface and the wavefront can be tailed by arranging metal antennas into linetype, circular or spiral arrays. Especially, for spiral antenna arrays, the geometric phase effect can be cancelled by or superposed on the chirality carried within circular polarization incidence, producing spatially separated solid dot or donut shape fields at the center. Such a phenomenon enables the graphene based spiral metal triangle antennas arrays to achieve functionality as a circular polarization analyzer. Extinction ratio over 550 can be achieved and the working wavelength can be tuned by adjusting graphene Fermi level dynamically. The proposed analyzer may find applications in analyzing chiral molecules using different circularly polarized waves.

Multi-service RoF links with colorless upstream transmission based on orthogonal phase-correlated modulation.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a full-duplex radio-over-fiber (RoF) system with colorless upstream transmission based on orthogonal phase-correlated modulation (OPM). This new OPM scheme, which realized by a polarization rotator (PR) and a single-driver Mach-Zahnder modulator (MZM) at the central office (CO), achieves polarization-orthogonality between the optical carrier (OC) and subcarriers generated by radio frequency (RF) signals. By adjusting a polarization controller (PC) in the remote access units (RAU), different modulation schemes can be flexibly implemented, e.g. double-sideband (DSB) modulation for low RF service and optical carrier suppression (OCS) modulation for millimeter-wave (mm-wave) service. In the meantime, the OC can be reused for the upstream transmission without any filtering and additional PC. A proof-of-concept experiment is conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of proposed scheme, where downstream 800-Mb/s orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal at 58 GHz as an mm-wave service and 800-Mb/s OFDM signal at 0.3 GHz as a low frequency wireless service, as well as an upstream 1-Gb/s on-off keying (OOK) are simultaneously delivered in a shared architecture. By providing heterogeneous services and colorless upstream transmission, the proposed architecture can be seamlessly integrated in wavelength division multiplexing passive optical network (WDM-PON).

Graphene plasmons isolator based on non-reciprocal coupling.

In this paper we propose a graphene plasmons isolator based on non-reciprocal coupling within double graphene layer waveguide structure on a magneto-optical substrate. The difference in modal indices of graphene plasmons in opposite directions enables non-reciprocal coupling, which is theoretically investigated via coupled mode theory (CMT) and shows good agreement with numerical finite elements methods (FEM). The non-reciprocal coupling endows such system functionalities as magnetically controlled "plasmons circulator" or "plasmons isolator". For the latter case, systematical investigations of the insertion losses and isolation ratios with respect to the structural parameters, material properties, environmental parameters, fabrication errors as well as dielectric damping are presented. Theoretical investigation has shown an isolation ratio as 42 dB. The proposed plasmons circulator and isolator may serve as potential building blocks in graphene plasmons circuits.

Flexible compensation of dispersion-induced power fading for multi-service RoF links based on a phase-coherent orthogonal lightwave generator.

A novel technique to simultaneously compensate dispersion-induced power fading for multi-service radio-over-fiber (RoF) links is proposed. At the central office (CO), a phase-coherent orthogonal lightwave generator (POLG) consisting of a polarization rotator (PR) and a single-driver Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) is used. By adjusting a polarization controller (PC) in the base station (BS), the phase difference between the orthogonal polarization carrier and two sidebands can be controlled, and the frequency response can be flexibly shifted for individual radio frequency (RF) service. We experimentally shift the destructive interference to the constructive interference at various frequencies for 25 km and 30 km fiber links. The performances of two services carrying 1 Gb/s on-off keying (OOK) data at 9 GHz and 16.6 GHz over a 30 km fiber in the proposed system show receiver sensitivity improvement of ∼12 dB at the bit error rate (BER) of 10(-3) compared with the conventional double sideband (DSB) modulation case.