The Effects and Applications of Erbium Doped Fiber Fabry-Perot Interferometers

Abstract

Fiber Fabry-Perot Interferometers (FFPI) are optical sensors which can be used to measure changes in stress or temperature, but efforts continue to improve them. Calculations show that the response can be dramatically altered with a gain inducing medium in the cavity. In order to induce gain, a highly doped Erbium (Er) fiber is incorporated in the FFPI. A pump wavelength of 1480 nm is used with a wavelength near 1550 nm. The pump must be at a significantly higher power level than the signal for gain. In order to correctly interpret responses, it is necessary to characterize the response of the measurement equipment. This includes everything from the laser and photodetector to system losses and the titanium oxide coated fibers. Fabrication of FFPIs involves fusing titanium oxide coated fibers to standard single mode fibers. Directly fusing an Er - doped fiber to a titanium oxide coated fibers was not possible because of incompatible splice conditions required in each case. Instead, an intermediate standard single mode fiber was spliced between them. This lengthened the cavity. Experimental results from the Er - doped Fiber Fabry-Perot Interferometer verified the hypothesis that improvements are obtainable. Overall, the measurements showed a 1.3 dB improvement in the maximum-to-minimum Insertion Loss Ratio.