• DocumentCode
    894300
  • Title

    A passive fiber-optic depolarizer

  • Author

    Lutz, Dale R.

  • Author_Institution
    3M Fiber Opt. Lab., St. Paul, MN, USA
  • Volume
    5
  • Issue
    4
  • fYear
    1993
  • fDate
    4/1/1993 12:00:00 AM
  • Firstpage
    463
  • Lastpage
    465
  • Abstract
    A passive fiber-optic depolarizer for avoiding noise due to input polarization fluctuations in polarization-sensitive optical sensors is described. It consists of a 2*2 polarization-maintaining coupler (with a coupling ratio of >2/3) having two fiber leads spliced together with their respective fast axes crossed, forming a recursive loop structure. Essentially complete depolarization was experimentally demonstrated. This approach requires no active elements and is applicable even to extremely narrow bandwidth laser sources.<>
  • Keywords
    fibre optic sensors; light polarisation; optical fibres; optical polarisers; 2 by 2 coupler; 2*2 polarization-maintaining coupler; coupling ratio; fiber leads; input polarization fluctuations; noise; passive fiber-optic depolarizer; polarization-sensitive optical sensors; recursive loop structure; Birefringence; Chromium; Fiber lasers; Optical coupling; Optical fiber couplers; Optical fiber polarization; Optical fiber sensors; Optical fibers; Optical propagation; Optical sensors;
  • fLanguage
    English
  • Journal_Title
    Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE
  • Publisher
    ieee
  • ISSN
    1041-1135
  • Type

    jour

  • DOI
    10.1109/68.212700
  • Filename
    212700