264 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 21, NO.

1, JANUARY 2003

Investigations of the Spectral Sensitivity

of Long Period Gratings Fabricated in
Three-Layered Optical Fiber
T. Allsop, D. J. Webb, Member, IEEE, and I. Bennion, Member, IEEE

AbstractLong period gratings (LPGs) were written into a pro- single-mode optical fiber. Examples include the use of air-clad
gressive three-layered (PTL) monomode optical fiber. The spectral [8] or depressed-cladding [9] fibers to desensitise the structure
sensitivity was experimentally measured with respect to tempera- to changes in the refractive index of the surrounding medium,
ture and the surrounding refractive index, and compared with the-
oretical predictions. The behavior of the devices suggests that this and the use of three-layered W-fibers either to reduce sensitivity
type of fiber may be useful as a means of reducing the sensitivity of to temperature changes [10] or, alternatively, to maximize the
LPGs to the surrounding medium and for simultaneous tempera- temperature sensitivity [11].
ture and refractive index sensing. In this paper, we examine, for the first time to our knowl-
Index TermsLong-period fiber gratings, optical fiber, optical edge, the properties of LPGs written in progressive three-lay-
fiber devices, refractive index measurement, temperature mea- ered (PTL) fiber in which, unlike W-fiber, there is always a de-
surement. crease in refractive index across the layer boundaries moving
outwards from the fiber axis. We show that a PTL fiber can be
I. INTRODUCTION used to solve the recoating problem for LPGs. In addition, we
demonstrate that due to the different characteristics of the at-

A FIBER long-period-grating (LPG) is an axially periodic

refractive index variation inscribed in the core of a pho-
tosensitive single-mode optical fiber by ultra-violet irradiation.
tenuation bands corresponding to different cladding modes, the
PTL fiber has two distinct sensing regimes which may be used
to address the problem of distinguishing between the effects of
The study of the LPG attenuation bands has yielded many poten- changes in temperature and in the external refractive index.
tial applications. One important area is in fiber-optic telecom-
munications where they have found use as wavelength-selective II. THEORETICAL ANALYSIS
filters for flattening the gain spectrum of an erbium-doped fiber
amplifier (EDFA) [1], [2]. Also, over the last few years, the LPG The LPG couples incident light to the forward-propagating
has found numerous applications in the field of sensing through cladding modes of the optical fiber, which decay rapidly through
its sensitivities to strain, temperature and the refractive index of radiation. The fiber supports many cladding modes and, thus,
the surrounding medium [3][5]. The LPG sensitivity can man- the LPG induces a corresponding series of attenuation bands in
ifest itself in two ways; first through the spectral shift in the the transmission spectrum of the fiber. The centre wavelength
attenuation band, which here we refer to as spectral sensitivity, of an attenuation band is specified by the phase-matching
and second through a change in the strength of the attenuation condition
band.
In general, problems can arise when using a LPG that is (1)
written into a conventional step-index single-mode fiber, due
where
to its sensitivity to external influences. One problem is that
of distinguishing between individual measurands; several
papers have been published addressing this problem [6][8]. (2)
In addition, for telecommunication applications, problems can and is the effective index of the core mode, and the ef-
occur when the fiber is recoated after the inscription process. fective index of the radial cladding mode, both indices being
In a step-index fiber, the spectral position and strength of the dependent on the core refractive index , the inner cladding re-
LPG attenuation bands are dependent upon the surrounding fractive index and the wavelength . Also, is a function
mediums refractive index ( ). In the process of recoating of the refractive indices of the outer cladding layer, , and the
the fiber, changes, thereby altering the spectral profile. To surrounding medium, . is the period of the LPG, the tem-
overcome such problems, there has recently been some interest perature and the strain experienced by the fiber. The quantity
in the spectral behavior of LPGs fabricated in multilayered is the differential effective index between the core and
cladding modes. In (2), the superscripts denote the core
Manuscript received June 27, 2002; revised September 17, 2002. This work mode and the axially symmetric cladding modes: from
was supported by the U.K. EPSRC this point forward, we replace 1 with . We are assuming here
The authors are with the Photonics Research Group, Aston University, Birm-
ingham B4 7ET, U.K. that the grating consists of a circularly symmetric index pertur-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JLT.2003.808613 bation transverse to the axis of the fiber, so that the only nonzero
0733-8724/03$17.00 2003 IEEE
ALLSOP et al.: INVESTIGATIONS OF THE SPECTRAL SENSITIVITY OF LPGs 265

TABLE I
SPECIFICATION USED FOR THE MODELING OF THE PTL FIBER

* Data supplied by Fibercore Ltd.

The values of thermooptic coefficients for the individual layers are estimated from: core [19], inner cladding [20].
No data were available for the outer cladding and its value was chosen to fit the experimental results.

coupling coefficients between the core mode and the cladding

modes involve cladding modes of azimuthal order 1 [12].
The number and the spectral properties of cladding modes
are determined by the fiber structure [12][14]. The geometrical
dependence is not apparent from (1) and (2), but is taken into
account in deriving the dispersion relation for a given refractive
index profile [14]. The properties of individual cladding modes
may be observed through their associated attenuation bands.
In the work reported here, the values of the core and cladding
modes effective ( ) and group ( ) indices were
obtained by solving numerically the dispersion relationship
for a four-layered fiber using the technique described by Yeh
and Lindgren [14]. The predicted values were confirmed using
Tsaos expressions [13]. In general, as increases, the spectral Fig. 1. The theoretical maximum values for the sensitivity parameter d=dn
for an LPG written in the PTL fiber.
sensitivity, defined as , increases monotonically to a
maximum value, which occurs at the value of at which the
mode becomes unguided. The maximum value of the spectral typically more than 1000 nm for a LPG in standard telecommu-
sensitivity can be determined to be [17] nications fiber [17]. Second, the large increase in sensitivity at
is a result of the fact that at that point the modes become
guided by the outer cladding and hence are far more susceptible
to the influence of the external medium.
Similarly, using the expression for the temperature sensitivity
(3) of an LPG [15] with the conventional definitions used in [15]
and [17], the equation gives the spectral sensitivity with respect
to changes in :
where is the differential group index. Also
, and are the phase parameters for
consecutive cladding layers of the optical fiber and is the
refractive index of the layer. The maximum value of
is 4, denoting the medium surrounding the fiber. Also the phase (4)
parameter must be real for the mode to be guided within the
fiber. where is the thermooptic coefficient of the core mode,
is the value taken by when (the normalized fre- which can be calculated from the thermooptic coefficient of the
quency) becomes infinite for the mode [16]. is the ap- core material [21] and is the thermooptic coefficient
proximate expression for the phase parameter , obtained from of the cladding mode, which in turn can be calculated ap-
the characteristic equation of a fiber waveguide when becomes proximately from the thermooptic coefficient of the cladding
large [16]. layer material containing the majority of the energy of the
To calculate the spectral behavior of cladding modes with cladding mode, and is the thermal expansion co-
respect to and some of the physical/optical attributes efficient of the core.
of the fiber are required. In this case a PTL fiber was in- The theoretically predicted values of are shown in
vestigated which was supplied by Fibercore Ltd (SMM900, Fig. 2. and there are two features. The first is a change in the
DF15000980); for some of its properties see Table I. sign of the sensitivity, which occurs between the ninth and tenth
The predicted maximum spectral sensitivity of the cladding mode, which is reminiscent of the behavior of a con-
cladding modes of the PTL fiber are shown in Fig. 1. ventional step-index fiber. The second feature is that unlike the
The key features to note are first for , the sensitivity neighboring modes the 23rd mode has a positive sensitivity; this
is very low, having a magnitude less than 1 nm, compared to novel feature is not observed with a conventional fiber.
266 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 21, NO. 1, JANUARY 2003

associated with cladding modes up to the 23rd were very insen-

sitive to changes in , being essentially unmeasurable below
mode order 14, see Fig. 3 for an example. This confirms that
these cladding modes are dominantly distributed in the inner
cladding
The attenuation bands associated with the 15th to 22nd
cladding modes showed both red and blue spectral shifts with
respect to changes in . This was observed using two LPGs,
one with a period of 72 m (where the 17th and 18th cladding
modes at wavelengths of 1178 nm and 1201 nm displayed
blue shifts) and a second with a period of 69 m where the
19th cladding mode at a wavelength of 1417 nm gave a red
shift. Higher order cladding modes (27th and above) are only
Fig. 2. The theoretical values for the sensitivity parameter d=dT for an LPG guided by the outer cladding and hence display a much greater
written in the PTL-fiber.
sensitivity to the external index.
The experimental sensitivities are shown in Fig. 4. It should
III. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
be stressed that we do not expect a fit between the experimental
The PTL optical fiber was supplied by Fibercore Ltd and was and theoretical results. The theoretical values correspond to the
originally designed for a cladding pumped erbium doped fiber maximum sensitivity which occurs at the external index where
laser. The fiber is not specifically designed to be photosensitive the cladding mode is only just guided, whereas the experimental
and so its photosensitivity was increased by hydrogenation at values were obtained using measurements at two widely dif-
a pressure of 120 Bar for a period of two weeks at room tem- ferent indices, both someway below the index where the mode
perature. A number of LPGs of length 15 cm were fabricated becomes unguided. We expect the theoretical values to have a
in the fiber using a pulsed frequency quadrupled YAG laser and greater magnitude. The experimental results are presented to
several amplitude masks. Each of the LPGs had a different pe- confirm the general trends predicted by the theory.
riod, ranging from 6 m to 550 m. Characterization of the at-
tenuation bands was carried out by illuminating the LPG using B. Sensitivity of Attenuation Bands to Temperature
a broadband light source and observing the transmission spec-
The experimental apparatus for measuring the temperature
trum with an optical spectrum analyzer (OSA).
sensitivity of the LPGs is very much the same as for . Instead
To make a better comparison between the spectral sensitivity
of the LPG being immersed into the liquids, it was placed on the
of individual cladding modes from the different LPGs, we only
top of an insulated Peltier cooler. The temperature was varied
chose attenuation bands from a restricted range of wavelengths
and the wavelength shift of the attenuation bands of each LPG
to reduce the effect of the wavelength dependence of the spectral
measured. The results are shown in Fig. 5.
sensitivity, see Table II.
Here, as we expect, the match with the theory is much better,
A. Sensitivity of Attenuation Bands to showing the change in sign at mode 10 and the anomalous posi-
tive sensitivity of mode 23. Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate these features
The experimentally, apparatus for measuring the dependence more clearly.
of the spectral characteristics of the LPG on consisted of an
OSA with a resolution of 0.08 nm for wavelength monitoring
IV. DISCUSSION
(Hewlett-Packard model 88 142A) and a broadband light
source, either an erbium ASE source or the OSAs internal Figs. 1 and 2 demonstrate that the cladding modes within the
source. The LPG was placed in a V-groove and immersed in PTL fiber have two sensitivity conditions for and with
certified refractive index (CRI) liquids (supplied by Cargille respect to radial modal order, .
laboratories Inc.) which have a quoted accuracy of 0.0002. First, for the condition and
The LPG and V-groove were carefully cleaned, washed in applies. The experimental values obtained for
methanol, then in deionised water and finally dried before the spectral sensitivities of varied from 0.678 nm C
immersion of the LPG into a CRI liquid. This cleaning proce- to 0.612 nm C . Experimentally we were unable to measure
dure was adopted to reduce the amount of salts being deposited any dependence on for implying an upper limit on
on the fiber by the chemicals. The salt deposits, if they had the sensitivity of 0.14 nm, given a measurement resolution of
not been removed, would have invalidated the results because 0.1 nm.
they would have changed the effective external refractive index Second, for the condition and
values. The V-groove was made in aluminum plate, machined applies. Here the experimental values obtained
flat to reduce bending of the fiber. The plate was placed on an for spectral sensitivities of were less than the
optical table, which acted as a heat sink to maintain a constant maximum obtained for lower order modes, see Fig. 5. The ex-
temperature. This was to minimize thermal fluctuations, which perimental spectral sensitivities of had a maximum
would have induced spectral drift of the attenuation bands. of 410 nm.
Initially all the usable LPGs were immersed into two CRIs These properties of LPGs in PTL-fiber could be very useful
( and ). It was found that attenuation bands in constructing a refractive index sensor that is insensitive to
ALLSOP et al.: INVESTIGATIONS OF THE SPECTRAL SENSITIVITY OF LPGs 267

TABLE II
ATTENUATION BANDS CHOSEN FOR STUDY

* The radial order of the cladding mode at  was determined by using three/four-layer optical
fiber analysis and Yehs Algorithm; [13], [14]

Fig. 3. The spectral response of the attenuation band corresponding to the 5th
Fig. 5. Experimental values for the sensitivity parameter d=dT for an LPG
order cladding mode for a LPG written in PTL fiber with 3 = 210 m and a
written in the PTL-fiber measured at 110 C.
length of 15 cm.

Fig. 6. Spectral response of the attenuation bands associated with the ninth
Fig. 4. Experimental values for the sensitivity parameter d=dn for an LPG and tenth cladding modes of a LPG (3 = 100 m and length = 15 cm),
written in the PTL-fiber. demonstrating the change in the sign of the temperature dependence.

thermal fluctuations or from which both temperature and refrac- of nm C compared to 1 nm C for
tive index variations could be recovered. Such a device could be a LPG.
realized in principle by monitoring different attenuation bands While, in this paper, we have been concerned principally with
of the same LPG. A device based upon such a LPG would also sensor characteristics, we recognize also the applicability of the
give higher temperature resolution than a fiber Bragg grating LPG in telecommunications systems, in which insensitivity to
[18] due to the fact that the typical temperature sensitivity for a temperature is an important characteristic, and where a sensi-
Bragg grating in the spectral region we considered is of the order tivity not exceeding 0.001 nm C might be necessary. The
268 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 21, NO. 1, JANUARY 2003

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both temperature and index information from a single LPG in
a well-conditioned way. Finally, it should also be noted that the
insensitivity to changes in the surrounding mediums refractive
index for low mode orders could also be used to reduce the sen- T. Allsop, photograph and biography not available at time of publication.
sitivity of the LPG to the material used to recoat it after inscrip-
tion. This sensitivity can be problematic for LPGs that are used
in telecommunication systems.
D. J. Webb (M01), photograph and biography not available at time of publica-
tion.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank T. Hart of Fibercore Limited
for fruitful discussions and for supplying the material constants
and specification of the PTL fiber and B. A. L. Gwandu for help I. Bennion (M91), photograph and biography not available at time of publica-
in fabricating some of the long-period gratings. tion.