Advanced Optoelectronic Devices

Passive waveguides and devices

Lecture 5: Fibre Bragg Gratings

EENGM6000

MSc

Prof. Martin Cryan

Refs : Fibre Bragg Gratings by

Raman Kashyap

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 Fibre Bragg Gratings

In lecture 5 of OEDS we studied the Bragg Reflector. This was a 1

dimensional structure that had a periodic variation in refractive index.
This gave rise to strong reflection at the Bragg wavelength =

g

2

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 Fibre Bragg Gratings (FBG)
We studied the reflectivity of a VCSEL mirror as shown below.
This is made up of layers of different refractive index.
A FBG is a similar structure but created within a fibre

In Fibre
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 Fibre Bragg Gratings (FBG)
Thus we have to some how create a periodic variation in the refractive index of
a fibre.

To do this we normally use an effect called Photosensitivity. Here we obtain a

permanent change in the refractive index of material by exposing it to light
radiation, typically UV.

This not to be confused with Photorefractivity, this refers to a phenomenon

occurring in crystalline materials that exhibit a 2nd order non-linearity by which
light radiation causes a permanent change in the refractive index by creating an
internal electric field.

So if we could create a spatially periodic variation in the intensity of a UV

signal and expose the fibre to this, this periodic variation would be imprinted on
the fibre.

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 Fabrication of Fibre Bragg Gratings (FBG)

Two main approaches :

1. Holographic methods
- Normally use what is known as a phase mask to split an incoming
beam into two, which, when recombined create an interference
pattern with the appropriate period for the grating.

2. Direct exposure
- Here a fibre is periodically exposed to UV using a pulsed source or
spatially periodic amplitude mask

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Holographic methods I : Non-Phase mask

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 Holographic methods I : Non-Phase mask

The two beams are brought together at an angle .

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 Holographic methods I : Non-Phase mask

we can write an expression for the intensity in the region of overlap

 2   
I ( z )  I1  I 2  2 I1 I 2 cos  sin   Lg  2 z 
 UV 2 

and we define visibility of the fringes as

I max  I min
v
I max  I min

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 Holographic methods I : Non-Phase mask

This method allows the Bragg wavelength to be chosen independently of

the UV wavelength, it can be shown that

neff UV
Bragg 
 
nuv sin  
2
Where neff is the effective mode index of the fibre, nuv is the refractive index of
the fibre at the UV wavelength, uv is the wavelength of the writing radiation
and  is the angle between the writing beams

By adjusting the angle between the beams you can choose any Bragg wavelength
from being equal to the UV wavelength to infinity.

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 Holographic methods II : The Phase Mask

• A phase mask is a relief grating that is etched into a silica plate

• The grating consists of a series of grooves with carefully controlled mark-

space ratio and etch depth

• The principle of operation is based on the diffraction of an incident UV

beam into several orders (or directions)

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 Holographic methods II : The Phase Mask

• The incident and diffracted orders (beams) satisfy the general diffraction
equation given by :

mUV
 pm 
  m  
 sin    sin  i 
  2  

Where m/2 is the angle of the diffracted order

m=0 is the transmitted beam or zero order beam
m=-1 is the diffracted beam, -ve refer to direction relative to incident.

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 Holographic methods II : The Phase Mask

When the angle of incidence = 0 degrees, i.e. the beam is perpendicular to the
phase mask, the diffracted radiation in split into 2 diffracted beams, m=+/-1
and a transmitted beam, m=0

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 Holographic methods II : The Phase Mask

The period of the grating in the phase mask defines the grating that is “written”
into the fibre.

The interference pattern created when these two beams are brought together
using parallel mirrors, as in the first example is defined by :

UV
g 
 
2 sin  m 
 2 

The relationship to the desired Bragg wavelength of the FBG is defined as

NBragg Where N is an integer and

g  known as the order of the grating
2neff
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Holographic methods II : The Phase Mask

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Holographic methods II : The Phase Mask

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 Direct exposure

The period of a FBG operating at 1.5um is approximately 0.5um.

The diffraction limited spot-size of UV radiation at 244nm is ~0.25um

Thus it is possible to directly write a first order grating.

However, this is only used for very short gratings and requires very
accurate control of translation stages.
 Important Parameters of FBGs

From lecture 5 of OEDS we found that the power reflectivity from

a periodic grating at the Bragg wavelength is given by

Pref  rg2  tanh 2 L 

We looked briefly at the bandwidth of the response – we’ll look at this

in more detail here. The bandwidth of the filter is one of its most
important parameters. Other important parameters are phase variation
and dispersion as a function of wavelength.

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Important Parameters of FBGs : Bandwidth

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 Important Parameters of FBGs : Bandwidth

We shall define the bandwidth of the grating as being the bandwidth between the
first minima

from lecture 5 OEDS it can be shown that you can write the power
reflectivity away from the Bragg wavelength as

 2 sinh 2 Lg 
Pref  2
 cosh 2 Lg   2
at the Bragg wavelength =0 and we get the expression on slide 17


 or      Bragg

as  increases,  will become imaginary
    2 2
the sinh, cosh become sin and cos

  j  2   2 19
 Important Parameters of FBGs : Bandwidth

Then we have :

 2 sin 2 Lg 
Pref  2
 cos 2 Lg   2

Thus this will have zeroes when L g  

so we can write 
 2   2
L
2
  1
     
2
 2  (L) 2
L L
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 Important Parameters of FBGs : Bandwidth

In terms of wavelength

2 2  B   
  (    B )  neff (  )  2neff  
 B  B  

 B      
 2neff    2neff  2 
    
2

   1
2neff  2    2  (L) 2
  L
2
   2  (L) 2
2neff L

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 Important Parameters of FBGs : Bandwidth

Total Bandwidth is twice 

2
2   2  (L) 2
neff L

Thus when (L)2 << 2 the bandwidth scales as 1/L : WEAK Grating

When (L)2 >> 2 then the bandwidth is independent of length and is

proportional to the coupling coefficient : STRONG Grating

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Important Parameters of FBGs : Phase

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Important Parameters of FBGs : Group Delay

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Non-Uniform FBGs

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