Hybrid-type fibre Bragg gratings and their applications

Abstract

Fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) have attracted a lot of attention in recent years due to their wide applications in optical telecommunications and smart sensing. They have been used as DWDM filters, dispersion compensators, gain flattening filters, optical switch and connection devices, and temperature/strain sensors. FBGs have been found to exhibit four different type structures according to their different growth mechanisms. Each type of FBG exhibits unique thermal and strain properties. Generally, the Type I gratings in hydrogenated and hydrogen-free fibers are used most for applications. However, some novel devices may be achieved by combinational structure of different types of gratings in the future. In this paper, we propose a novel concept of fabrication and application of FBGs with hybrid grating types. We have observed a complex growth behavior of a hybrid-type grating in the UV exposure to a B/Ge codoped fiber through a phase mask. A new model has been developed to simulate the complex growth behavior of the hybrid-type gratings, giving results in excellent agreement with experiment.