Arc-induced Long Period Fiber Gratings with
Reduced Polarization Dependent Loss
Please do not include authors’ names and affiliation.
MOMAG 2018 will use double-blind review.
Abstract—We report a production technique of reducing the
polarization dependent loss (PDL) always present in arc-induced
long period fiber gratings (LPFGs). The proposed fabrication
method is based upon the rotation of the optical fiber by an axial
angle of 180° at each electric arc discharge, therefore, inducing
opposite point-by-point asymmetric modulations over the entire
length of the LPFG. PDL measurements of different arc-induced
LPFGs fabricated by both the conventional and proposed
method are presented. Finally, the obtained results show a
significant decrease of the intrinsic PDL of arc-induced LPFGs
with the proposed fabrication technique.
Keywords—fiber-optics; arc-induced long period fiber grating;
polarization dependent loss
I. INTRODUCTION
Long Period Fiber Gratings (LPFGs) are optical devices,
which have been extensively used in optical fiber
communication [1-3] and sensing systems [4-6]. These devices
consist of a periodic perturbation of the refractive index or the
geometry of the optical fiber, which usually has a period of
modulation ranging from 100 µm to 1000 µm. The periodic
modulation promotes energy coupling between the
fundamental core mode and the co-propagating cladding modes
[7]. Therefore, the transmission spectrum of the fiber exhibits a
series of attenuation dips, each one corresponding to the
coupling to a different cladding mode. These couplings occur
at specific resonance wavelengths λi, which are governed by
the phase-matching equation [8]:
 
i  nco ni ,clad  (1)
where nco and ni,clad are the effective refractive indices of the
fundamental core and cladding modes, respectively, and Λ
represents the period of the grating.
Over the years, different methods of fabricating LPFGs
have been demonstrated [9-11]. Among them, the arc discharge
method has particularly drawn wide attention due to its
straight, flexible, economical step-by-step procedure [7].
Another advantage of this technique is that LPFGs can be
fabricated in all kind of glass fiber [12]. In this method, the
grating is produced by exposing periodically the longitudinal
axis of the optical fiber to electric arc discharges, which are
generated by a fusion splicer machine. During the inscription
procedure, the fiber is kept under constant longitudinal tension,
Please do not include authors’ names and affiliation.
MOMAG 2018 will use double-blind review.
which thins and elongates the fiber section heated by the arc
discharge [13]. Moreover, the electric arc discharge has a
temperature gradient, which causes asymmetry of perturbation
in the optical fiber and therefore, induces transverse and
longitudinal perturbations in each arc-induced section and
depends on the fabrication conditions [14,15]. Furthermore, the
formation of the LPFGs are mainly attributed to the modulation
in the geometry along the optical fiber due to fiber localized
tapering and changes in the refractive index of the silica caused
by stress relaxation [16,17].
The potential of arc-induced LPFGs for applications in
communication systems has been investigated in few works
[8]. For instance, the performance of arc-induced LPFGs was
investigated as gain-flattening filters for optical fiber amplifiers
[18,19] and optical filters in fiber lasers [19,20]. The reason is
due mainly to their intrinsic polarization dependent loss (PDL)
[21], which negatively affects the overall performance of high-
speed and long-haul optical communications systems [22].
Furthermore, in sensing applications based on LPFGs, it is
important to reduce the polarization dependent loss in the
transmission spectrum in order to isolate the sensing parameter
[23]. Therefore, the PDL is an inherent problem that limits the
performance of grating sensors and is required to have low
values especially in telecommunications systems [11,24].
In this work, we propose a novel fabrication method to
reduce the intrinsic PDL in arc-induced LPFGs. Different from
the traditional way to fabricate arc-induced LPFGs, the
proposed method is based on axial rotation of the optical fiber
at each electric arc discharge. Therefore, the induced
asymmetric perturbation rotates by an axial angle of 180° along
the axial direction of the optical fiber, which creates opposite
point-by-point modulation over the entire length of the LPFG.
Finally, the experimental results show that by using the
proposed technique the intrinsic PDL of these arc-induced
gratings was substantially reduced
II. METHODOLOGY
In order to demonstrate the PDL reduction method in arc-
induced LPFGs, we have fabricated different gratings using
both the conventional and proposed method. The schematic
representation of the experimental setup for fabricating LPFGs
rotated by an axial angle of θ = 180° at each electric arc
discharge is shown in Fig. 1. On the other hand, the
conventional method [16,17] for producing LPFGs implies no
axial rotation of the optical fiber by the axial angle θ.
We developed an automatic computer-assisted fabrication
process to precisely control the inscription process of the
LPFGs and improve the alignment of the fiber position and
electrodes. It consists of a commercial fusion splicer (Jilong
KL-300T) integrated with two motorized rotation and
translation stages (RTS), a mass of 12 g weight to apply a
constant tensile force of approximately 0.12 N to the fiber
before it is fixed in the RTS, a high precision pulley, and a
personal computer (PC). Furthermore, the inscription system
has two high precision rotation and translation stages (RTS).
Each one comprises a translation motor to displace the fiber in
+z direction and a rotation motor to perform the rotation of the Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the fabrication setup of LPFGs with
rotation of the fiber by an axial angle of θ = 180°.
fiber by an axial angle of θ = 180°. It is important to note that
both RTS 1 and RTS 2, which can be observed in Fig. 1, are
synchronized and controlled by a personal computer. III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Therefore, the translation motors move the optical fiber in the
same direction (+z) at the same time, whereas the rotation The polarization characteristics of the arc-induced LPFGs
motors rotate the fiber by the same axial angle. Moreover, we produced by the conventional and proposed method were
used two flags attached to both ends of the fiber to visualize the investigated using the PDL measurement system shown in Fig.
rotation of the optical fiber at each arc discharge throughout the 2. The output light from the internal broadband source (BBS)
fabrication process. of the OSA is completely unpolarized. Therefore, we use a
polarization controller (PC 1) to adjust that light, which is
The LPFGs were produced in a standard optical fiber linearly polarized by using a fiber polarizer, in order to provide
Corning SMF-28 with arc power of 90 bits (manufacturer unit), maximum power transfer after the fiber polarizer. Then, the
exposure time of 500 ms, and grating period typically from 500 polarization controller (PC 2) scans over all the states of
µm to 550 µm. The transmission spectrum of the LPFG was polarization (SOP) of light incident upon the LPFG in order to
monitored using an Optical Spectrum Analyzer (OSA) from determine the maximum and minimum transmitted power
Anritsu (MS9740A) with a wavelength resolution of 30 pm and within the wavelength range around the resonance wavelength
its built-in broadband light source (BBS). The proposed of a specific mode coupling. Finally, the OSA records the
fabrication procedure consists of two main steps. The first step transmission spectra associated with the maximum and
consists of applying the first electric arc discharge, moving the minimum transmitted power, and the absolute difference
fiber according to the desired grating modulation period between them defines the PDL of the grating under
towards +z direction, which translates the fiber to the next arc investigation.
discharge longitudinal position, and rotating the fiber by an
axial angle of θ = 180°. The second one performs the next arc
discharge, inverse rotates the optical fiber, which implies in an
axial rotation of θ = 180° in the opposite direction (-θ), and
translates the fiber in +z direction for the next electric arc
discharge position. Then, these steps are repeated many times
until a desired transmission spectrum is achieved.
It is important to mention that the PDL in a LPFG
originates from the birefringence that is present in the grating
structure and, therefore, the grating transmission properties
depend upon the state of polarization (SOP) of light incident on
the grating [25]. Furthermore, during the grating inscription Fig. 2. Experimental setup for PDL measurement.
process, the asymmetric modulation at each electric arc
discharge introduces both local geometric and stress-induced
birefringence. Thus, the rotation of the fiber by an axial angle A. Polarization Dependent Loss Measurements
of θ = 180° at each electric arc discharge induces a couple of We can observe in Fig. 3 the maximum and minimum
opposite birefringence at two adjacent arc-induced sections of transmission spectra and the spectral PDL for two LPFGs
the fiber during the point-by-point fabrication process. By fabricated by the conventional arc discharge method.
using this technique, the contribution of the induced Moreover, the minimum and maximum values of PDLmax
birefringence is averaged along the fiber grating length. obtained among the produced gratings are shown in Figs. 3(a)
Therefore, the two principal states of polarization, which are and 3(b), respectively. For convenience, we define the PDLmax
not orthogonal [21] and correspond to maximum and minimum of a LPFG as the maximum PDL value around the resonance
power values, undergo a compensated birefringence over the wavelength of the attenuation dip. Therefore, a minimum
entire length of the grating. PDLmax of ~7.24 dB was obtained for an attenuation dip of
~44.63 dB, whereas the maximum value was ~11.26 dB for an
attenuation dip of ~30 dB. These high PDL values are
comparable with those of LPFGs fabricated by the traditional 0 2.0

Polarization Dependent Loss (dB)

arc discharge technique previously reported elsewhere [21,26]
-5
and can be correlated to high levels of birefringence, which can
be observed in the transmission spectra as the resonant -10 1.5

Transmission (dB)
wavelengths are nonoverlapping.
-15

(a) (b) -20 1.0

0 9 0 12.0

Polarization Dependent Loss (dB)

Maximum
-5 Minimum 8 -5 10.5 -25
Maximum
-10 7 -10 9.0
Minimum
Transmission (dB)

-30 0.5
-15 6 Maximum
-15 7.5 Minimum
-20 5 -35
-20 6.0
-25 4 -40 0.0
-25 4.5 1500 1525 1550 1575 1600 1625 1650
-30 3
-35 2 -30 3.0 Wavelength (nm)
-40 1 -35 1.5
-45 0 -40 0.0
1540 1560 1580 1600 1620 1540 1560 1580 1600 1620 Fig. 5. PDL measurement of a LPFG fabricated with the proposed method.
Wavelength (nm)

B. Comparison among LPFGs Fabricated with Different

Fig. 3. (a) Lowest and (b) highest PDL value measured of LPFGs fabricated Techniques
with the conventional electric arc discharge method.
In order to emphasize the potential of the reported
technique for reducing the intrinsic PDL of arc-induced
(a) (b)
0 1.0 0 4.5 LPFGs, we compared its results against PDL values reported
Polarization Dependent Loss (dB)

4.0 for LPFGs fabricated by different techniques, for instance, the

-5 -10 3.5 UV [24,25,31] and CO2 [11,25,29,30] laser-based methods. We
Transmission (dB)

3.0 can observe in Fig. 7 the comparison between the maximum

-20
-10 0.5
Minimum -30
Maximum
-15
-40
-20 0.0
1525 1550 1575 1600 1450 1475
Wavelength (nm)
Fig. 4. (a) Lowest and (b) highest PDL value measured of LPFGs fabricated
with the proposed method.
PDL measurements for different arc-induced LPFGs
fabricated with opposite point-by-point modulation are shown
in Figs. 4 and 5. We can observe in Fig. 4(a) a value of PDLmax
of ~0.75 dB with an attenuation dip of ~12.84 dB, which is the
lowest PDL value obtained among the gratings produced with
the proposed fabrication technique. On the other hand, a
maximum PDLmax of ~2.57 dB for an attenuation dip of ~24.43
dB can be observed in Fig. 4(b). Therefore, these values
correspond to the two extremes of PDLmax among the gratings
produced with the proposed method. Moreover, when
comparing the extreme values of PDLmax of both the
conventional and proposed method, a considerable reduction of
the PDL is achieved. We can further observe the reduction of
the intrinsic PDL with the proposed technique in Fig. 5. In this
case, a PDLmax value below 2 dB for a grating with strong
coupling up to 35 dB was achieved. Finally, the low
birefringence present in the structure of produced gratings can
be observed as the resonant wavelengths of the maximum and
minimum transmission spectra still overlap.
2.5 PDL values for gratings produced with different techniques in
terms of the PDLmax and transmission loss. Some authors
2.0
Minimum 1.5 reported maximum PDL values below 2 dB for transmission
Maximum losses up to 25 dB for gratings produced with CO2 laser
1.0
0.5
radiation [25,29,30]. However, for LPFGs induced by CO2
0.0
laser with higher transmission losses, the PDL value is
1500 1525 1550 remarkably higher [11]. Regarding the polarization properties
of UV-induced gratings [27,28,31], some works reported low
values of maximum PDL for transmission losses up to 20 dB,
as can be seen in Fig. 7. More recently, an automatic arc
discharge technology for inscribing conventional LPFGs [26]
obtained typical values of maximum PDL of ~7 dB for an
attenuation dip of ~25 dB, which are comparable with those
obtained in this work using the traditional arc-induced
fabrication technique. Finally, we can compare the results
obtained with the method of producing arc-induced gratings
having reduced polarization dependence reported in this work
with different values of PDL reported in literature. Therefore,
we can note that by using the reported technique it is possible
to achieve maximum PDL levels comparable with those of the
UV and CO2-induced gratings for the same transmission loss.
Furthermore, it was possible to obtain strong resonant
attenuation dips higher than 25 dB with relatively low PDL
values, which has not been demonstrated in literature for UV
and CO2-induced gratings so far.
It is important to mention that by reducing the intrinsic
PDL of arc-induced LPFGs, these devices could be used to
improve the overall system performance of applications based
on arc-induced LPFGs, such as gain equalizers of optical fiber
amplifiers [18,19] and filters in optical sources [19,20].
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