Parallel laser micromachining based on diffractive optical elements with dispersion compensated femtosecond pulses.

We experimentally demonstrate multi-beam high spatial resolution laser micromachining with femtosecond pulses. The effects of chromatic aberrations as well as pulse stretching on the material processed due to diffraction were significantly mitigated by using a suited dispersion compensated module (DCM). This permits to increase the area of processing in a factor 3 in comparison with a conventional setup. Specifically, 52 blind holes have been drilled simultaneously onto a stainless steel sample with a 30 fs laser pulse in a parallel processing configuration.

Waveguiding properties of a photonic crystal fiber with a solid core surrounded by four large air holes.

The polarization-dependent guiding properties of a hexagonal-lattice photonic crystal fiber with a solid-core surrounded by four large air holes are investigated. The appearance of a polarization dependent cutoff frequency, together with several parameters as the birefringence, the modal effective area, the group velocity dispersion and the polarization dependent loss are analyzed. A collection of fibers with different structural parameters were fabricated and characterized. An effective anti-guide structure from at least 450 nm to 1750 nm, a polarizing fiber with a polarization dependent loss of 16 dB/m at 1550 nm, and an endlessly singlemode polarization-maintaining fiber with group birefringence of 2.1x10(-3) at 1550 nm are reported. Experimental results are compared with accurate numerical modeling of the fibers.

Fundamental-mode cutoff in liquid-filled Y-shaped microstructured fibers with Ge-doped core.

We report on the cutoff characteristics of a Ge-doped Y-shaped microstructured fiber in which the holes are filled with a liquid of refractive index higher than silica but lower than the Ge-doped core. It is found that the cutoff wavelength was very sensitive to temperature variations as a result of the refractive index changes of the liquid. The basic properties of such a fiber permit the fabrication of wideband tunable short-pass filters, as well as temperature sensors with high sensitivity. A temperature sensitivity of 25 nm/degrees C is reported.