TY - JOUR
T1 - Ultrafast laser inscription of a 121-waveguide fan-out for astrophotonics
AU - Thomson, R.R.
AU - Harris, R.J.
AU - Birks, T.A.
AU - Brown, G.
AU - Allington-Smith, J.
AU - Bland-Hawthorn, J.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Using ultrafast laser inscription, we report the fabrication of a prototype three-dimensional 121-waveguide fan-out device capable of reformatting the output of a 120-core multicore fiber (MCF) into a one-dimensional linear array. When used in conjunction with an actual MCF, we demonstrate that the reformatting function using this prototype would result in an overall through put loss of ̃7.0 dB. However, if perfect coupling from the MCF into the fan-out could be achieved, the reformatting function would result in an overall loss of only ̃1.7 dB. With adequate development, similar devices could efficiently reformat the output of so-called "photonic lanterns" fabricated using highly multicore fibers.
AB - Using ultrafast laser inscription, we report the fabrication of a prototype three-dimensional 121-waveguide fan-out device capable of reformatting the output of a 120-core multicore fiber (MCF) into a one-dimensional linear array. When used in conjunction with an actual MCF, we demonstrate that the reformatting function using this prototype would result in an overall through put loss of ̃7.0 dB. However, if perfect coupling from the MCF into the fan-out could be achieved, the reformatting function would result in an overall loss of only ̃1.7 dB. With adequate development, similar devices could efficiently reformat the output of so-called "photonic lanterns" fabricated using highly multicore fibers.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84863656245&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OL.37.002331
U2 - 10.1364/OL.37.002331
DO - 10.1364/OL.37.002331
M3 - Article
VL - 37
SP - 2331
EP - 2333
JO - Optics Letters
JF - Optics Letters
IS - 12
ER -