An automatically power-stabilized (with power fluctuation <0.155 dB), narrow-linewidth (0.0171 nm), wavelengthtunable (10.69 nm) erbium-doped fiber laser has been proposed by cascading two fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZI) without using any temperature controlling device. One of the MZIs (here called the 1st MZI) is composed of two 3 dB couplers to form interference patterns while the other MZI (here termed the 2nd MZI) is constructed with a tapered seven-core fiber (SCF) and based on the principle of supermode interference. For the two MZIs, the free spectral range (FSR), the passband bandwidth and the extinction ratio (ER) at 1560 nm are 0.37 nm, 0.19 nm, 16.6 dB and 13.93 nm, 7.93 nm, 10.1 dB, respectively. Due to the major difference between the two FSR values, the 1st MZI and the 2nd MZI respectively play a role in controlling the laser linewidth and suppressing the homogeneous broadening effect to reach to a satisfactory level of power stability. The 2nd MZI is also used to fine tune the laser wavelength by applying strain to the tapered SCF (TSCF) over the spectral range of 1570.22-1559.33 nm, with an incremental step of 0.37 nm being used. The side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) of the tunable fiber laser can be up to 45 dB. By appropriately adjusting the polarization controller, dual wavelength lasing can also be achieved.

We demonstrate high sensitivity fiber refractive index (RI) sensor based on asymmetric supermode interferences in tapered four core fiber (TFCF). To make TFCF-based RI sensors, the whitelight was launched into any one of the cores to define the excitation orientation and is called a vertex-core excitation scheme. When the four-core fiber (FCF) was gradually tapered, the four cores gathered closer and closer. Originally, the power coupling occurred between its two neighboring cores first and these three cores are grouped to produce supermodes. Subsequently, the fourth diagonal core enters the evanescent field overlapping region to excite asymmetric supermodes interferences. The output spectral responses of the two cores next to the excitation core are mutually in phase whereas the spectral responses of the diagonal core are in phase and out of phase to that of the excitation core at the shorter and longer wavelengths, respectively. Due to the lowest limitation of the available refractive index of liquids, the best sensitivity can be achieved when the tapered diameter is 10 μm and the best RI sensitivity S is 3249 nm/RIU over the indices ranging from 1.41–1.42. This is several times higher than that at other RI ranges due to the asymmetric supermodes.

We demonstrate fiber few-mode interferometers based on a self-assembly surface corrugated grating using charged nano-particles. Initially, an abrupt taper (AT) was first created using a micro flame. The AT was then further outwardly stretched to make an elongated uniformed taper until the tapered diameter achieved a micron scale. The high order core modes (HOCMs) were excited at the AT and the optical path difference (OPD) among the modes was enlarged through the uniformed taper to achieve the few-mode interference effects seen. However, to significantly enhance the interference effects with higher extinction ratios (ER) over such a short length of interferometer, an external assisted grating was made using charged nanoparticles to form surface corrugated grating with a period, Λ, of approximately 14 μm. This intermediate period of the fiber grating was helpful in scattering and attenuating some unwanted high-order modes to change the optical characteristics of the few-mode interferometer (FMI). This FMI with a self-assembly fiber grating (SAFG) was further used to make fiber temperature sensors, with a maximum resonant wavelength shift of 4.6 nm, over a temperature range from 20–60 °C. The temperature sensitivity achieved was 112.6 pm/°C and the coefficient of determination, R2, was as high as 0.99, which revealed the high linearity of the results.

We demonstrate fiber few-mode interferometers based on self-assembly surface corrugated grating using charged nano-particles for temperature sensors with a maximum resonant wavelength shift of 4.6 nm over 20°C - 60°C.

We demonstrate high-sensitivity fiber strain sensors based on an elongated abrupt taper. The fiber abrupt taper, with a tapered diameter ranging from 40–60 μm, was made by using a hydrogen microflame to break the waveguide adiabaticity so as to convert the fundamental mode into cladding modes. The abrupt taper was further uniformly tapered by using a normal moving flame with a torch diameter of 7 mm to elongate the tapered region until the tapered diameter was down to 2.5–5 μm. The excited high-order modes were confined to propagate along the cladding and then recombined at the rear edge of the fiber taper to produce interferences with extinction ratios of up to 16 dB. The tapered region was pulled outwardly to change the optical path difference (OPD) between modes to measure the tensile strain with all the interfering wavelengths blue-shifted. The measured best strain sensitivity was 116.21 pm/με and the coefficient of determination R2 of linear fitting exhibits high linearity. This strain sensor based on elongated abrupt taper is several times higher than that of most of the fiber strain sensors ever reported.