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CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN OPTICAL FIBER TECHNOLOGY Edited by Sulaiman Wadi Harun and Hamzah Arof Current Developments in Optical Fiber Technology http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/46191 Edited by Sulaiman Wadi Harun and Hamzah Arof Contributors Miguel Perez, OLaya González Pérez, José R. Arias, Mitsuru Kihara, Pablo Sartor, Franco Robledo - Pedeciba Informatica, Claudio Risso, Tarek Ennejah, Rabah Attia, Danish Rafique, Andrew D. Ellis, Rosa Ana Perez-Herrera, Manuel Lopez-Amo, Manuel Durán Sánchez, Ricardo Ivan Alvarez Tamayo, Evgeny Kuzin, Baldemar Ibarra Escamilla, Andres Gonzalez Garcia, Olivier Jean Michel Pottiez, Fouad El-Diasty, Joao M. P. Coelho, Marta Castiñeiras, Catarina Eira Silva, José Rebordão, Dionísio Pereira, Xianfeng Chen, Katerina Krebber, Aurenice Oliveira, Ivan Lima Jr., Hadi Guna, Dr. Mohammad Syuhaimi Ab-Rahman, Malik Sulaiman, Latifah Sarah Supian, Norhana Arsad, Kasmiran Jumari, David Sánchez Montero, Carmen Vázquez García, Aron Michael, Silvio Abrate, Guido Perrone, Roberto Gaudino, Masaharu Ohashi, Masataka Iinuma, Seung-Woo Lee, Carlos Gouveia, Pedro Jorge, José Baptista Published by InTech Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia Copyright © 2013 InTech All chapters are Open Access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. However, users who aim to disseminate and distribute copies of this book as a whole must not seek monetary compensation for such service (excluded InTech representatives and agreed collaborations). After this work has been published by InTech, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work. Any republication, referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source. Notice Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the published chapters. The publisher assumes no responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained in the book. Publishing Process Manager Sandra Bakic Technical Editor InTech DTP team Cover InTech Design team First published June, 2013 Printed in Croatia A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com Additional hard copies can be obtained from [email protected] Current Developments in Optical Fiber Technology, Edited by Sulaiman Wadi Harun and Hamzah Arof p. cm. ISBN 978-953-51-1148-1 Contents Preface IX Section 1 Optical Fiber Systems and Networks 1 Chapter 1 Optimal Design of a Multi-Layer Network an IP/MPLS Over DWDM Application Case 3 Claudio Risso, Franco Robledo and Pablo Sartor Chapter 2 Scaling the Benefits of Digital Nonlinear Compensation in High Bit-Rate Optical Meshed Networks 21 Danish Rafique and Andrew D. Ellis Chapter 3 Faults and Novel Countermeasures for Optical Fiber Connections in Fiber-To-The-Home Networks 43 Mitsuru Kihara Chapter 4 Multimode Graded-Index Optical Fibers for Next-Generation Broadband Access 73 David R. Sánchez Montero and Carmen Vázquez García Chapter 5 Multicanonical Monte Carlo Method Applied to the Investigation of Polarization Effects in Optical Fiber Communication Systems 123 Aurenice M. Oliveira and Ivan T. Lima Jr. Section 2 Plastic Optical Fiber Technologies 159 Chapter 6 Efficiency Optimization of WDM-POF Network in Shipboard Systems 161 Hadi Guna, Mohammad Syuhaimi Ab-Rahman, Malik Sulaiman, Latifah Supian, Norhana Arsad and Kasmiran Jumari VI Contents Chapter 7 Step-Index PMMA Fibers and Their Applications 177 Silvio Abrate, Roberto Gaudino and Guido Perron Section 3 Optical Fiber Sensors 203 Chapter 8 Optical Fibre Gratings for Chemical and Bio - Sensing 205 Xianfeng Chen Chapter 9 Fibre-Optic Chemical Sensor Approaches Based on Nanoassembled Thin Films: A Challenge to Future Sensor Technology 237 Sergiy Korposh, Stephen James, Ralph Tatam and Seung-Woo Lee Chapter 10 Optical Fiber Sensors for Chemical and Biological Measurements 265 Miguel A. Pérez, Olaya González and José R. Arias Chapter 11 Investigation of Bioluminescence at an Optical Fiber End for a High-Sensitive ATP Detection System 293 Masataka Iinuma, Ryuta Tanaka, Eriko Takahama, Takeshi Ikeda, Yutaka Kadoya and Akio Kuroda Chapter 12 Smart Technical Textiles Based on Fiber Optic Sensors 319 Katerina Krebber Chapter 13 Refractometric Optical Fiber Platforms for Label Free Sensing 345 Carlos A. J. Gouveia, Jose M. Baptista and Pedro A.S. Jorge Chapter 14 Advances in Optical Fiber Laser Micromachining for Sensors Development 375 João M. P. Coelho, Marta Nespereira, Catarina Silva, Dionísio Pereira and José Rebordão Section 4 Fiber Lasers 403 Chapter 15 Mode Locked Fiber Lasers 405 Tarek Ennejah and Rabah Attia Contents VII Chapter 16 Experimental Study of Fiber Laser Cavity Losses to Generate a Dual-Wavelength Laser Using a Sagnac Loop Mirror Based on High Birefringence Fiber 427 Manuel Durán-Sánchez, R. Iván Álvarez-Tamayo, Evgeny A. Kuzin, Baldemar Ibarra-Escamilla, Andrés González-García and Olivier Pottiez Chapter 17 Multi-Wavelength Fiber Lasers 449 Rosa Ana Perez-Herrera and Manuel Lopez-Amo Section 5 Optical Fiber Measurement and Device 481 Chapter 18 Characterization of Optical Fibers by Multiple-Beam Interferometry 483 Fouad El-Diasty Chapter 19 Fiber Measurement Technique Based on OTDR 511 Masaharu Ohashi Chapter 20 Optical Fibre on a Silicon Chip 541 A. Michael, C.Y. Kwok, Md. Al Hafiz and Y.W. Xu Preface This book provides an overview of recent researches and developments in optical fiber technology related to next generation optical communication, system and network, sensor, laser, measurement, characterization and device. It is divided into five sections where the first section consists of five chapters that focus on the optical fiber communication systems and networks. The second section contains two chapters related to plastic optical fibers technologies for communication and sensors. Section three comprises seven chapters that cover recent advances on fiber optic sensors for various applications. Fiber laser works are highlighted in section four which focuses on mode-locked, dual wavelength and multi- wavelength lasers. The last section deals with fiber measurements techniques and fiber op‐ tic devices on silicon chip. The exponential growth of Internet traffic volume has increased the demand for higher ca‐ pacity networks, which then leads to the deployment of dense wavelength division multi‐ plexing (DWDM) technology. The increasing number of per-physical-link connections intrinsic to DWDM may cause multiple logical link failures from a single physical link fail‐ ure. This issue inspires the development of new multi-layer models that consist of stacks of network layers. The first chapter of this book, addresses the problem of finding the optimal configuration of a logical topology over a fixed physical layer. Another challenge with the DWDM networks is associated with the nonlinear transmission impairments, which strong‐ ly link the achievable channel reach for a given set of modulation formats to symbol-rates across a number of channels. Various methods of compensating fiber transmission impair‐ ments have been proposed, both in optical and electronic domains. Chapter 2 demonstrates the application of electronic compensation schemes in a dynamic optical network, focusing on adjustable signal constellations with non identical launch powers, and describes the im‐ pact of periodic addition of 28-Gbaud polarization multiplexed m-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (PM-mQAM) channels on existing traffic. This chapter also discusses the impact of cascaded reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers on networks operating close to the maximum permissible capacity in the presence of electronic compensation techniques for a range of higher-order modulation formats and filter shapes. Chapter 3 reviews a typical Fiber To The Home (FTTH) network and various fiber connec‐ tion faults and countermeasures in Japan. Chapter 4 reports on the use of multimode optical fiber as a successor to traditional copper-based transmission media for access networks. A predictive model of a full-optical convergent deployment scenario is also proposed in this chapter. Polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) is a major source of impairments in optical fiber communication systems. PMD causes distortion and broadens the optical pulses carry‐ ing information and lead to inter-symbol interference. In chapter 5, statistical methods of X Preface multi-canonical Monte Carlo (MMC) and importance sampling (IS) are used to accurately and efficiently compute penalties caused by the PMD. Chapter 6 discusses the Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) application over the Poly‐ mer Optical Fiber (POF) networks and data communications of selected equipment onboard of a navy ship. In chapter 7 a general overview of interesting applications of Step-Indexed POFs made of PolyMethylMethAcrylate (PMMA) material is given. This fiber can address interesting niche markets such as automobile entertainment, local networking and sensing. Optical fibers are widely extended for several applications, outside the typical applications in communications. In recent years, a large number of sensors that use optical fibers have been developed for measuring a lot of physical, chemical and biological quantities. Chapter 8 reviews fibre grating technologies, including fibre Bragg grating (FBG), tilted fibre grating (TFG) and long-period grating (LPG), for applications in chemical and bio- sensing. Three techniques including holographic, phase-mask and point-by-point methods are employed to fabricate these gratings structures in optical fibre. The most important contribution present‐ ed in this chapter is the implementation of optical fibre grating based refractive index sen‐ sors, which has been successfully used for chemical and bio- sensing. Chapter 9 describes recent approaches to the development of fibre-optic chemical sensors utilizing different measurement designs based on evanescent wave, tapered and long period gratings. Advan‐ tages and characteristic features of each measurement design are discussed and examples of the sensitive and selective detection of various chemical analyzes are demonstrated. Chapter 10 presents several operation principles (absorbance, reflectance and luminescence), data processing strategies, and the potential use for measurement purposes by means of some real implementation. A new method of highly sensitive detection of bioluminescence at an optical fiber end is introduced in Chapter 11 for ATP detection. The general concept of con‐ struction for an optical fiber-based system is discussed. The results of the sensitivity test us‐ ing a compact and cooled photomultiplier tube (PMT) are also presented in this chapter. Chapter 12 discusses the development of novel smart technical textiles with embedded opti‐ cal fibers. These textiles have a potential new market niche for fiber optic sensors such as in structural safety and healthcare monitoring. It is currently recognized that label free optical sensing based on the measurement of refractive index is an important technology for the measurement of chemical and biological parameters in diversified environments, ranging from industrial processes, medicine to environmental applications, where the need for com‐ plete and real time information about a variety of parameters is present. In chapter 13, the basic principles and most relevant advances of fiber refractometers based on evanescent wave interactions are presented. Chapter 14 describes recent advances in optical fiber laser micromachining for various sensors developments. Chapter 15 focuses on mode-locked fiber lasers, which can be realized using various active and passive techniques. Chapter 16 describes an experimental work on dual wavelength fi‐ ber laser. In the proposed laser, a Sagnac fiber optical loop mirror with a high-birefringence fiber on the loop (Hi-Bi FOLM) is used as a spectral filter to finely control the laser cavity loss. This control allows characterizing the competitive behavior with temperature varia‐ tions to achieve a better adjustment to obtain dual-wavelength laser emission. Chapter 17 presents various configurations of all-fiber multi-wavelength fiber lasers. These lasers have attracted much interest recently because of their potential applications in wavelength-divi‐ sion-multiplexing (WDM) communications, microwave generation, high-resolution spectro‐ scopy, fiber optic sensing, etc. Preface XI Precise and accurate measurement of optical fiber parameters is highly needed for both communication and sensing applications. Chapter 18 discusses fiber measurement based on interferometry techniques. Chapter 19 describes fiber measurement technique based on opti‐ cal time domain refractometer (OTDR). This technique is based on the measurement of the back-scattered light power to obtain information about various fiber parameters. In the last chapter, micro-machining and film deposition techniques that are useful for integrating and forming passive optical components on silicon chips are reviewed. Sulaiman Wadi Harun and Hamzah Arof Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia