Ultralow thermal sensitivity of phase and propagation delay in hollow core optical fibres.
Propagation time through an optical fibre changes with the environment, e.g., a change in temperature alters the fibre length and its refractive index. These changes have negligible impact in many key fibre applications, e.g., telecommunications, however, they can be detrimental in many others. Examples are fibre-based interferometry (e.g., for precise measurement and sensing) and fibre-based transfer and distribution of accurate time and frequency. Here we show through two independent experiments that hollow-core photonic bandgap fibres have a significantly smaller sensitivity to temperature variations than traditional solid-core fibres. The 18 times improvement observed, over 3 times larger than previously reported, makes them the most environmentally insensitive fibre technology available and a promising candidate for many next-generation fibre systems applications that are sensitive to drifts in optical phase or absolute propagation delay.
Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
Radan
R
Slavík
National Physical Laboratory, TW11 0LW Teddington, UK.
Giuseppe
G
Marra
Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
Eric Numkam
EN
Fokoua
Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
Naveen
N
Baddela
Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
Natalie V
NV
Wheeler
Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
Marco
M
Petrovich
Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
Francesco
F
Poletti
Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
David J
DJ
Richardson