Fibre grating optical waveguide device

Details Fibre grating optical waveguide device Fibre grating optical waveguide device

2002-01-02

2004-07-20

Lee, John D. (Department: 2874)

Optical waveguides

With optical coupler

Input/output coupler

C385S031000, C385S126000, C385S127000, C385S128000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06766079

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention is based on a priority application EP 01 440 002.2 which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to a Fibre Grating Optical Waveguide Device and a method of manufacturing the same.
Optical filters have numerous applications in optical communications and in particular, they can be used for providing wavelength selectivity and tuning in WDM (wavelength division multiplexing) and DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) systems. For this purpose, transmission filters based on diffractive grating structures or diffractive fibre grating structures, offer near ideal filter response and high channel isolation. Furthermore they can be used in sensor applications. The term “grating structures” as used in the following and in the field of optics in general defines structures comprising for example FBG (fibre Bragg gratings), SBG (slanted Bragg gratings), LPG (long period gratings) and mode converters.
Often the material of the optical fibre and consequently the wavelengths passing through the fibre is affected by thermal changes. For example, an uncompensated grating displays a shift in the so-called “Bragg wavelength” over a 100° C. temperature range as large as 1 nm which leads to serious problems in some optics systems applications. An increase or decrease in temperature has to be balanced in order to maintain a good tuning and/or selection of the wavelengths in the optical fibre.
The center wavelength (or Bragg-wavelength) &lgr;
B
of a filter is given by the following equation:
&lgr;
B
=2
&Lgr;n
eff
Where &Lgr; is the period of the grating and n
eff
is the effective refractive index.
The change in the Bragg wavelength &lgr;
B
for a temperature variation &Dgr;T is given by:
&Dgr;&lgr;
B
/&Dgr;T=
2&Lgr;(
dn
eff
/dT+n
eff
&agr;)
whereby &agr; is the linear thermal expansion coefficient of the fibre.
The variation in the center of the fibre is strongly influenced by the thermo-optic coefficient dn
eff
/dT which is about 10-11·10
−6
/K for germania-silica or silica glasses. The expansion term contributes less than ten percent of the total variability.
To avoid this undesired temperature dependency, two methods for athermalizing diffractive gratings are known which provide thermal control of the FBG in a device environment:
The first athermalization method is conventionally termed as “active”, providing a thermal control of the entire device environment. Active athermalization, however, needs an external power source to provide a constant and controlled temperature which is costly to elaborate and to power. Furthermore the compensating device, often termed as “package” or “packaging” is not compact enough for many applications.
The second athermalization method is termed as “passive” which is conventionally achieved by two ways:
The first way makes use of an arrangement, where the filter is maintained in a mechanical structure comprising two materials having different but positive thermal expansion coefficients (TEC). The design is such that the final dilatation behaviour results in a negative elongation of the fibre with an increasing temperature. The second way is to manufacture the diffractive grating directly into a structure comprising a single material (polymer or ceramic) with a negative TEC.
The FBG is packaged into a structure in such a way that the strain is relieved as the temperature increases. The reducing strain compensates the increasing refractive index and holds &lgr;
B
constant:
&Dgr;&lgr;
B
/&Dgr;T
=0→&agr;
FBG packaged
=−(
dn
eff
/dT
)/
n
eff
Passive athermalization is well known in the art:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,898 discloses a package which compensates the wavelength shift with temperature. This is achieved by a combination of two materials having different thermal expansion coefficients. This effect is being used to partially relieve the tension applied to the optical fibre with a temperature increase, and vice versa with a temperature decrease.
To avoid optical fibre buckling when temperature increases, the optical fibre is always maintained under tension. The disadvantage of the know passive athermalization methods is that the optical fibre is fixed on the package at only two points by the help of clamps or glue. This packaged device is very sensitive towards ageing which results in an uncontrolled variation of fibre tension, therefore in an uncontrolled shift of &lgr;
B
. The difficulty to ensure a stable and desired center wavelength is a major disadvantage of this method.
Iwashima et al. in Electronics Letters 1997, Vol.33, p. 417-419 and furthermore in EP-A-0798 573 proposed a multilayer package around the fibre. The fibre is hold in a tube made of a liquid-crystall polymer and fixed into the tube by an epoxy glue or silicon. A major disadvantage of this method is the fact that obtaining perfectly concentrically surrounding layers requires a tedious and technically demanding process which leads often to non-reproducible results.
The underlying problem of the invention was therefore to provide a fiber grating filter optical waveguide device which is not influenced by variations in temperature.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This problem is solved by a fiber grating filter optical waveguide device with the features of claim 1.
Accordingly, a fibre grating filter optical waveguide device comprises an optical fibre consisting essentially of silica, whereby said optical fibre has an area with a diffractive grating region and wherein said area with a diffractive grating region is covered with a material having a negative thermal expansion coefficient &agr; satisfying the following equation:
&agr;=−(
dn
eff
/dT
)/
n
eff
wherein dn
eff
/dT is the thermo-optic coefficient of the fibre material and n
eff
is the effective refractive index.
It is preferred that the material is a polymeric material. Polymeric materials display an easily controllable behaviour, so that they can be chosen and tailored according to the specific needs of an application, so that the adhesion between a glassy material as for example a fibre and the polymeric material is optimized. Furthermore, they can be easily applied on the surface of Bragg gratings.
It is still further preferred that the polymeric material is a crosslinked polymeric material and/or display anisotropic mechanical and thermomechanical properties. It is preferred to use crosslinkable monomeric or oligomeric precursors which are generally easier to apply than the corresponding polymers.
Advantageously, the monomeric and/or oligomeric precursor materials of said polymeric material display LC characteristics in the molten state.
The problem underlying the invention is further solved by a method for manufacturing a fiber grating optical waveguide device according to the invention comprising the following steps:
forming a diffraction grating area along an optical axis of an optical fibre
bringing in contact of at least said area of the optical fibre monomeric and/or oligomeric precursor materials forming a layer or a coating of said monomeric and/or oligomeric precursor materials on at least said area
curing the layer of the monomeric and/or oligomeric precursor materials
The curing according to the invention is carried out after applying the monomeric and/or oligomeric precursor materials onto the optical fibre with the diffractive grating region. This implies an excellent adhesion between the polymeric material and the material of the fibre surface is obtained.
The curing is carried out preferably by temperature, UV, electron beam or gamma irradiation, but any other method known by a person skilled in the art is applicable as well. By deliberately choosing the curing temperature, the crosslinking degree can be adapted to the specific requirements of the polymeric coating.
In a further advantageous embodiment, the monomeric and/or oligomeric precursor materials are aligned in a magnetic field along the fibre axis before or during curing. This leads to an uniaxial orientation of the corresponding mon

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