Dr. Yang Chen

Frenet–Serret analysis of helical Bloch modes in N-fold rotationally symmetric rings of coupled spiraling optical waveguides

Yang Chen, Philip St. J. Russell

The behavior of electromagnetic waves in chirally twisted structures is a topic of enduring interest, dating back at least to the 1940s invention of the microwave travelling-wave-tube amplifier and culminating in contemporary studies of chiral metamaterials, metasurfaces, and photonic crystal fibers (PCFs). Optical fibers with chiral microstructures, drawn from a spinning preform, have many useful properties, exhibiting, for example, circular birefringence and circular dichroism. It has recently been shown that chiral fibers with N-fold rotationally symmetric (symmetry group CN) transverse microstructures support families of helical Bloch modes (HBMs), each of which consists of a superposition of azimuthal Bloch harmonics (or optical vortices). An example is a fiber with N coupled cores arranged in a ring around its central axis (N-core single-ring fiber). Although this type of fiber can be readily modeled using scalar coupled-mode theory, a full description of its optical properties requires a vectorial analysis that takes account of the polarization state of the light, which is particularly important in studies of circular and vortical birefringence. In this paper, we develop, using an orthogonal 2D helicoidal coordinate system embedded in a cylindrical surface at constant radius, a rigorous vector coupled-mode description of the fields using local Frenet–Serret frames that rotate and twist with each of the N cores. The analysis places on a firm theoretical footing a previous HBM theory in which a heuristic approach was taken, based on physical intuition of the properties of Bloch waves. After a detailed review of the polarization evolution in a single spiraling core, analysis of the N-core single-ring system is carefully developed step by step. Accuracy limits of the analysis are assessed by comparison with the results of finite element modeling, focusing in particular on the dispersion, polarization states, and transverse field profiles of the HBMs. We believe this study provides clarity into what can sometimes be a rather difficult field and will facilitate further exploration of real-world applications of these fascinating waveguiding systems.

Polarization-Tailored Raman Frequency Conversion in Chiral Gas-Filled Hollow-Core Photonic Crystal Fibers

Sona Davtyan, David Novoa, Yang Chen, Michael H. Frosz, Philip St. J. Russell

Broadband-tunable sources of circularly polarized light are crucial in fields such as laser science, biomedicine, and spectroscopy. Conventional sources rely on nonlinear wavelength conversion and polarization control using standard optical components and are limited by the availability of suitably transparent crystals and glasses. Although a gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber provides pressuretunable dispersion, long well-controlled optical path lengths, and high Raman conversion efficiency, it is unable to preserve a circular polarization state, typically exhibiting weak linear birefringence. Here we report a revolutionary approach based on a helically twisted hollow-core photonic crystal fiber, which displays circular birefringence, thus robustly maintaining a circular polarization state against external perturbations. This makes it possible to generate pure circularly polarized Stokes and anti-Stokes signals by rotational Raman scattering in hydrogen. The polarization state of the frequency-shifted Raman bands can be continuously varied by tuning the gas pressure in the vicinity of the gain-suppression point. The results pave the way to a new generation of compact and efficient fiber-based sources of broadband light with a fully controllable polarization state.

Strong circular dichroism for the HE11 mode in twisted single-ring hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

Paul Roth, Yang Chen, Mehmet Can Günendi, Ramin Beravat, Nitin N. Edavalath, Michael H. Frosz, Goran Ahmed, Gordon K. L. Wong, Philip St. J. Russell

We report a series of experimental, analytical, and numerical studies demonstrating strong circular dichroism for the HE11-like core mode in helically twisted hollow-core single-ring photonic crystal fiber (SR-PCF), formed by spinning the preform during fiber drawing. In the SR-PCFs studied, the hollow core is surrounded by a single ring of nontouching capillaries. Coupling between these capillaries results in the formation of helical Bloch modes carrying orbital angular momentum. When twisted, strong circular birefringence appears in the ring, so that coupling to the core mode is possible for only one circular polarization state. The result is a SR-PCF that acts as a circular polarizer, offering 1.4 dB/m for the low-loss polarization state and 9.7 dB/m for the high-loss state over a 25 nm band centered at 1593 nm wavelength. In addition, we report for the first time that the vector fields of the helical Bloch modes are perfectly periodic when evaluated in cylindrical coordinates. Such fibers have many potential applications, such as generating circularly polarized light in gas-filled SR-PCF and realizing polarizing elements in the deep and vacuum ultraviolet.