A high-accuracy measurement method for the noncircularity (ellipticity) of silica glass fibers is demonstrated. This method makes use of the phase velocity difference between two eigen polarization modes of the lowest-order acoustic flexural wave in an optical fiber. The relationship between the acoustic phase velocity difference and the fiber ellipticity is formulated. Three types of optical f...

We present evidence for non-Gaussian velocity fields within the cores of luminous elliptical galaxies. This evidence is based on high signal-to-noise ratio, medium-resolution spectroscopy of the cores of early-type members of the Virgo and Coma Clusters obtained with the Wisconsin-Indiana-Yale-NOAO 3.5 m telescope. The Virgo data were acquired using an integral-field unit (DensePak), which allo...

A novel, chemical-etching technique produces very high throughput, polarization-maintaining probes for near-field, scanning, optical microscopy (NSOM). The process includes coating the tips with aluminum and forming the apertures with a focused ion beam (FIB). The elliptical core fibers used resulted in elliptical apertures for the probes. The throughput of the probes depends on the incident po...

A nonlinear method to generate and control both the type magnitude of birefringence, as well differential group delay (DGD) in optical fibers is studied. Experiments show that parameters birefringence can be dynamically changed with only a slight variation SBS-induced gain system. The based on exploiting polarization dependence stimulated Brillouin scattering fibers. generation controlled DGD d...

We report the fabrication of what are believed to be the first microstructured optical fibers with uniformly oriented elliptical holes. A high degree of hole ellipticity is achieved with a simple technique that relies on hole deformation during fiber draw. Both form and stress-optic birefringence are characterized over a broad wavelength range. These measurements are in excellent agreement with...

We reported an ultrahigh birefringence PCF with a germanium-doped elliptical core, which is fabricated in our lab using the stack-and-draw method, and an ultrahigh birefringence of 1.1×10 is obtained experimentally via FBG and Sagnac loop. OCIS codes: (060.2280) Fiber design and fabrication; (060.5295) Photonic crystal fibers; (060.3735) Fiber Bragg gratings

Polarization decorrelation in single-mode fibers with randomly varying elliptical birefringence is studied. It is found that the effects of ellipticity on the polarization decorrelation length depend on the relative sizes of the beat length and the autocorrelation length of the birefringence fluctuations in the fiber. However, the evolution of the differential group delay remains unaffected by ...

We have analyzed and calculated the temperature and strain sensitivities of a high-birefringence double-clad elliptical fiber. We propose a method to minimize these sensitivities without increasing the fiber size or weight; this is achieved by selecting suitable fiber parameters-core ellipticity, refractive index difference, and thickness of the inner cladding. In addition, we discuss the desig...