Fabrication of micro-ridge long-period gratings inscribed on polarization-maintaining fibers

We experimentally investigated a simple and new technique for the fabrication of micro-ridge long-period gratings (MRLPGs) based on polarization-maintaining fibers (PMFs). The cladding region of the PMFs was etched periodically using a wet etching technique resulting in the periodic formation of micro-ridges on the surface of the PMF. The PMF-based MRLPGs has two resonant peaks because of the birefringence of the PMF. The extinction ratios of two resonant peaks of the PMF-based MRLPGs were effectively improved by increasing the applied strain because of the photoelastic effect.This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2012R1A1A2000999)