Optical Limiting in Solid-Core Holey Fibers

High intensity lasers play a major role in our current technical society. Military and telecommunication systems are prone to critical damage from powerful lasers, therefore it is imperative to find ways to provide protection from these lasers. Optical limiters are devices that reduce transmission of high intensity light and can be used to protect these systems. Our goal is to develop optical limiters that are compatible with current fiber optic devices.

This work focused on the optical properties of solid-core holey fibers where the fiber holes were filled with a solution that exhibited a strong nonlinear absorption. We observed optical limiting at visible wavelengths due to the interaction of the nonlinear absorber with the evanescent tails of the propagating mode. Experimental results were compared to theoretical calculations of the modal profiles of the holey fiber. Dr. Stephen Hall is the AAPT sponsor for this presentation.