UV-excited poling enhances fiber nonlinearity

Scientists at the University of Sydney (Australia) have used UV-excited poling to create an electro-optic coefficient of better than 6 pm/V in germanosilicate fiber, a value more than six-fold over bulk poling. The technique has a spatial resolution that makes it useful for making periodic poled structures for second-harmonic generation and tunable grating applications. The technique, described at OFC `95 in postdeadline paper PD6, was also used to make the first electrically tunable Bragg gratings at 1.53 µm in fiber, with a measured Bragg wavelength shift of about 0.01 nm for a 1-V/µm electric field.

Special symposia events enliven CLEO/QELS `95 conference