Short Courses

SC208 Specialty Optical Fiber Design and Applications

Monday, February 25, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
David DiGiovanni; OFS Labs, USA

Level: Advanced Beginner (basic understanding of topic is necessary to follow course material)

Course Description
Specialty optical fiber remains a robust field for innovation in both telecom and nontelecom applications. Application-specific fiber can enable or benefit a wide array of functions such as simply transporting light between two points, amplifying light, processing signals, sensing environmental characteristics and even transporting particles. The tools available in adapting fiber to particular uses include a range of materials and dopants (glasses, polymers), the mechanics of the fiber (size, coatings, microstructure), waveguiding properties (index profile), and various fiber-based devices such as gratings. These tools have been used to establish an industry that continues to expand as photonics penetrates more and more industries and applications. This Short Course will discuss the many ways in which optical fiber design can benefit a wide range of applications and will review an array of current fiber technologies. We will consider the role and capabilities of materials, structures and waveguide design for both fiber and fiber-based photonic components. The focus will be on understanding the capabilities of fiber design and engineering with the goal of demonstrating the many opportunities available with novel optical fibers.

Benefits and Learning Objectives
This course should enable you to:

• Describe the wide array of optical fibers available and discuss how their designs have been engineered for particular applications.
• Compare the benefits of different materials in fiber design, including different glass dopants and different polymer coatings.
• Design simple fibers for various applications, such as amplifiers, dispersion compensators, sensors and component pigtails.
• Determine whether particular applications can benefit from modified or novel optical fibers.
• Understand the potential offered by fiber engineering which may be exploited to improve existing applications or create new functions.

Intended Audience
This course is intended for the technical community seeking to understand the potential of novel optical fibers. Basic understanding of optical fiber properties is desirable though not required. The course will provide an understanding of the operating principles of fibers while also exploring the limits of waveguide and materials engineering.

Instructor Biography
David J. DiGiovanni received several engineering and mathematics degrees from Brown University, including a doctorate in 1987. He joined Bell Labs in the optical fiber research department and worked on various phenomena related to optical fibers for erbium-doped amplifiers, high power amplifiers and lasers and Raman amplification. He is now director of OFS Labs and continues to explore applications for novel fibers.