Contradirectional two-beam coupling was achieved using a single laser beam incident on fibers grown from congruent iron doped lithium niobate using the laser heated pedestal growth technique. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a grating has been written in a fiber using a single laser beam and its Fresnel reflection in a 180 degree(s) contradirectional two-beam coupling geometry. Beam-coupling efficiencies were compared as a function of beam spot size for fibers and bulk crystals. At small spot sizes, the fibers outperformed the bulk crystals by reducing the diffraction effect.

Date Published: 23 January 2002
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 4459, Photorefractive Fiber and Crystal Devices: Materials, Optical Properties, and Applications VII, and Optical Data Storage, (23 January 2002); doi: 10.1117/12.454005

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4459:
Photorefractive Fiber and Crystal Devices: Materials, Optical Properties, and Applications VII, and Optical Data Storage
Shizhuo Yin; Hans J. Coufal; Francis T. S. Yu; Hans J. Coufal, Editor(s)