Reconfigurable liquid metal fiber-optic mirror for continuous, widely-tunable true-time-delay

Opt Express. 2013 Feb 11;21(3):2741-7. doi: 10.1364/OE.21.002741.

Abstract

This paper reports the demonstration of a widely-translatable fiber-optic mirror based on the motion of liquid metal through the hollow core of a photonic bandgap fiber. By moving a liquid metal mirror within the hollow core of an optical fiber, large, continuous changes in optical path length are achieved in a comparatively small package. A fiber-optic device is demonstrated which provided a continuously-variable optical path length of over 3.6 meters, without the use of free-space optics or resonant optical techniques (i.e. slow light). This change in path length corresponds to a continuously-variable true-time delay of over 12 ns, or 120 periods at a modulation frequency of 10 GHz. Wavelength dependence was shown to be negligible across the C and L bands.

MeSH terms

  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Fiber Optic Technology / instrumentation*
  • Lenses*
  • Metals / chemistry*
  • Solutions

Substances

  • Metals
  • Solutions