title: Compact all-fiber optical Faraday components using 65-wt%-terbium-doped fiber with a record Verdet constant of -32 rad/(Tm).
abstract: A compact all-fiber Faraday isolator and a Faraday mirror are demonstrated. At the core of each of these components is an all-fiber Faraday rotator made of a 4-cm-long, 65-wt%-terbium-doped silicate fiber. The effective Verdet constant of the terbium-doped fiber is measured to be -32 rad/(Tm), which is 27 x larger than that of silica fiber. This effective Verdet constant is the largest value measured to date in any fiber and is 83% of the Verdet constant of commercially available crystal used in bulk optics-based isolators. Combining the all-fiber Faraday rotator with fiber polarizers results in a fully fusion spliced all-fiber isolator whose isolation is measured to be 19 dB. Combining the all-fiber Faraday rotator with a fiber Bragg grating results in an all-fiber Faraday mirror that rotates the polarization state of the reflected light by 88 +/- 4 degrees .
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, and 2Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, 250 East River Road, Rochester, NY 14623-1299, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Marciante