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Light Advanced Manufacturing

Mid-infrared all-optical modulators based on an acetylene-filled hollow-core fiber

Kaiyuan Zheng, Shoulin Jiang, Feifan Chen, Yan Zhao, Shoufei Gao, Yingying Wang, Hoi Lut Ho, Wei Jin

Published Jan 1, 2022• 14 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report all-optical mid-infrared phase and intensity modulators based on the photo-thermal effect in an acetylene-filled anti-resonant hollow-core fiber. Optical absorption of the control beam promotes the gas molecules to a higher energy level, which induces localized heating through non-radiative relaxation and modulates the refractive index of the gas material and hence the accumulated phase of the signal beam propagating through the hollow-core fiber. By modulating the intensity of the control beam, the phase of the signal beam is modulated accordingly. By use of a 1.53 μm near-infrared control beam, all-optical phase modulation up to 2.2π rad is experimentally demonstrated at the signal wavelength of 3.35 μm. With the phase modulator placed in one arm of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, intensity modulation with on-off ratio of 25 dB is achieved. The gas-filled hollow-core-fiber modulators could operate over an ultra-broad wavelength band from near-to mid-infrared and have promising application in mid-infrared photonic systems.

DOI
10.37188/lam.2022.050

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Journal of Applied Physics•Jun 22, 2020•3 citations
We report all-optical mid-infrared phase and intensity modulators based on the photo-thermal effect in an acetylene-filled anti-resonant hollow-core fiber. Optical absorption of the control beam promotes the gas molecules to a higher energy level, which induces localized heating through non-radiative relaxation and modulates the refractive index of the gas material and hence the accumulated phase of the signal beam propagating through the hollow-core fiber. By modulating the intensity of the control beam, the phase of the signal beam is modulated accordingly. By use of a 1.53 μm near-infrared control beam, all-optical phase modulation up to 2.2π rad is experimentally demonstrated at the signal wavelength of 3.35 μm. With the phase modulator placed in one arm of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, intensity modulation with on-off ratio of 25 dB is achieved. The gas-filled hollow-core-fiber modulators could operate over an ultra-broad wavelength band from near-to mid-infrared and have promising application in mid-infrared photonic systems.
Experimental observations of nonstationary coherent optical phenomena, i.e., optical nutation, free induction, and photon echo, in the acetylene (12{}^{12}12C2{}_{2}2​H2{}_{2}2​) filled hollow-core photonic-crystal fiber (PCF) are reported. The presented results were obtained for the acetylene vibration-rotational transition $P$9 at wavelength 1530.37 nm at room temperature under a gas pressure of 0.5 Torr. An all-fiber pumped-through cell based on the commercial 2.6-m-long PCF with a 10-\ensuremath{\mu}m hollow-core diameter was used. The characteristic relaxation time T2{T}_{2}T2​ during which the optical coherent effects were typically observed in our experiments was estimated to be \ensuremath{\approx}8 ns. This time is governed by the limited time of the acetylene molecules' presence inside the effective PCF modal area and by intermolecule collisions. An accelerated attenuation of the optical nutation oscillations is explained by a random orientation of acetylene molecules.
We present a new concept of the homodyne interferometric adaptive detection of optical phase modulation. To ensure adaptivity, i.e. stabilization of the interferometer operation point, we utilize the phase memory of a two-level quantum system, resonantly illuminated with the information bearing signal wave. Phase modulation of the transmitted signal wave transforms into the intensity modulation via interference with the collinearly propagating dipole radiation of the excited two-level system. The latter acts like a reference wave since it has a phase corresponding to that of the signal wave but averaged over the transverse relaxation time T2 of the quantum system. Experimental demonstration with the acetylene-filled hollow-core micro-structured optical fiber at the communication wavelength of 1530nm of the acetylene P9 absorption line is presented. It is shown that the response to the introduced phase modulation is quadratic when the acetylene inhomogeneously broadened absorption line is excited in its center and is a linear one if it is excited at one of the absorption line sides.
We report detailed experimental results on the optical nutation effect in acetylene-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCFs). This coherent quantum optical effect is manifested by the appearance of attenuated oscillations in the profiles of transmitted step-like coherent optical pulses. The experiments used 15 ns optical pulses with peak powers up to ∼4 W and centered at 1530.37 nm, which corresponds to the acetylene (12C2H2) vibration-rotation resonance absorption line P9. The all-fiber cell made from a HC-PCF with internal diameter ∼10.3 μm contained a gas pressure of about 0.12 Torr. The Maxwell-Bloch equations are used to analyze the influence of the homogeneous relaxation, the inhomogeneous Doppler broadening of the absorption line, and the random orientation of the acetylene molecules. By comparing the experimental results with numerical simulations, we obtain the longitudinal and the transverse relaxation times to be close to 10 ns and find that the transition dipole moment of the acetylene P9 absorption line is ∼1.36×10−32 Cm.
Experimental results on the transient optical nutation effect inside an acetylene-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF) are reported. The experiments used 15 ns optical pulses with peak powers up to 5 W. The light wavelength was centered at 1530.37 nm, which corresponds to the P9 acetylene (12C2H2) vibrational-rotational absorption line. The gas pressure inside the PCF, with hollow core diameter of ∼10.3 μm, was kept around 0.12 Torr. Comparison of the experimental data with numerical simulations using the Maxwell-Bloch equations allowed us to evaluate the characteristic longitudinal and transverse relaxation times around 10 ns, as well as the transition dipole moment (1.36 × 10−32 Cm).
Abstract We propose to use phase memory of an ensemble of two-level centers, irradiated by the resonantly tuned detected signal wave, for homodyne interferometric detection of fast optical phase modulation. Collinearly propagating dipole radiation of the excited two-level centers acts as a coherent reference wave (local oscillator) necessary to transform the phase modulation into the amplitude modulation behind the resonant medium. The phase of this radiation follows the average phase of the incident detected wave with the characteristic transverse relaxation time T 2 that ensures adaptive properties of this interferometric detection configuration to slowly varying environmental conditions. We present experimental demonstration with the acetylene-filled hollow-core microstructured optical fibers at a wavelength of 1530.37 nm of the acetylene P9 absorption line, which is inside the telecommunications wavelengths range. It is shown that the response is quadratic when the acetylene ∼500 MHz inhomogeneously broadened absorption line is excited in its center, but can be essentially linearized for excitation at one of the line sides.
The delayed optical nutation effect has been used to evaluate the longitudinal relaxation time (T1) inside an acetylene-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF) at room temperature. In this experiment, sequences of two short optical pulses of 30 ns and 15 ns in width, respectively, with the maximum peak power up to ∼2.5 W, were generated at a laser wavelength of 1530.37 nm, which corresponds to the acetylene ro-vibrational P9 absorption line. The gas pressure inside the 1 m-long HC-PCF varied in the range 0.1–1 Torr. Numerical simulations based on the optical Bloch equations allowed us to evaluate the longitudinal relaxation time as T1∼9ns, proving to be fundamentally limited by the transit-time broadening. Also, the obtained results revealed the influence of slow and fast molecules in the form of a non-exponential decay of the delayed-nutation signals.