Graduation Semester and Year

Summer 2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Electrical Engineering

Department

Electrical Engineering

First Advisor

Michael Vasilyev

Abstract

Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) presents a fundamental challenge in the practical use of highly nonlinear fibers (HNLFs) for optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs), especially in systems requiring broad bandwidth and high spectral purity. Traditional SBS suppression techniques, such as pump phase dithering, can mitigate this nonlinear effect but often compromise the phase quality of the idler wave, making them unsuitable for coherent or phase-sensitive applications. This thesis introduces an alternative approach that suppresses SBS while preserving critical dispersion characteristics of the fiber by combining both structural and thermal optimization strategies.

The proposed method involves constructing a five-segment, 250-meter hybrid HNLF composed of two distinct fiber types: dispersion-decreasing (DD) and dispersion-flattened (DF) fibers. Each segment is selected based on its unique zero-dispersion wavelength (ZDW) and SBS frequency and is individually temperature-tuned to achieve uniform ZDW alignment and broadened, detuned SBS gain spectra. This combination minimizes SBS accumulation while maintaining favorable phase-matching conditions along the fiber.

Experimental results demonstrate a 5.8 dB enhancement in the product of the SBS threshold and fiber length and an improvement of more than 10 dB in the SBS-limited internal wavelength conversion efficiency compared to the reference configurations with no SBS suppression. Notably, the hybrid HNLF enables positive conversion efficiency (+0.9 dB) in a continuous-wave-pumped OPA without the need for pump modulation techniques. These findings indicate the potential of temperature-controlled, multi-segment HNLFs as a scalable and robust solution for high-performance optical parametric devices for use in advanced fiber-optic communication and signal processing systems.

License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.