辐照环境下掺铒光纤性能下降严重影响了其在空间环境中的应用，而Ce可以凭借其变价能力抑制光纤的辐致损伤效应。利用螯合物气相沉积法制备了不同Ce掺杂量的掺铒光纤，在常温下使用⁶⁰Co辐照源对光纤进行了累积剂量100 krad、剂量率6.17 rad/s的辐照实验。通过吸收损耗谱的测试发现Ce掺杂含量高的光纤在辐照后损耗为419.185 dB/km@1200 nm，且荧光寿命变化量减小了0.578 ms。通过切片芯层透过率及电子顺磁共振测试发现Ce掺杂可以有效降低光纤中Al和Ge相关的色心缺陷数量。最后通过增益测试验证了Ce掺杂对掺铒光纤抗辐照能力的改善，辐照后高Ce掺杂的光纤比未掺杂Ce光纤的增益高出4.15 dB。实验结果表明，Ce掺杂可以有效增强掺铒光纤抗辐照性能，这一结论对掺铒光纤在太空中的应用具有重要意义，该研究结果能够为后续掺铒光纤的耐辐照加固及其在空间中的应用提供参考。

Induced loss at 633 nm is tested in Yb3+/Al3+ co-doped silica fiber by a core pumped with a 974 nm laser and probed with a 633 nm laser. The fiber is prepared by the modified chemical vapor deposition method combined with solution doping. Different power scales of pump light and probe light are used in the tests. It is found that there is a dynamic equilibrium between photobleaching induced by 633 nm probe light and photodarkening (PD) induced by 974 nm pump light. For the first time to our knowledge, the effect of 633 nm probe laser power on an induced loss test of Yb3+/Al3+ co-doped silica fiber is studied quantitatively. It suggests that as long as the 633 nm probe light power is less than 0.2 mW, the induced loss is mainly contributed by the PD effect of pumping light, and the deviation of induced loss is less than 5%.

We present the investigation on deformation of orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes in bending ring-core fibers (RCFs) with different structure sizes through numerical and experimental studies. The effective refractive index differences of even and odd fiber eigenmodes, which constitute OAM±1,1 modes, induced by RCF bending and their impacts on the OAM±1,1 mode intensity distributions are analyzed. Bending experiments are also carried out on three different RCFs, and the results match well with simulation values. It is found that RCFs with smaller inner and outer radii show preferable tolerance to the fiber bending.

We present a polarization-maintaining PANDA ring-core fiber (PM-PRCF) characterized by the combination of a ring-core structure with two stress-applying rods. This special fiber design separates the adjacent modes and avoids the cutoff of the higher-order modes, which is a common problem in elliptical core polarization-maintaining few-mode fibers. Using a high-contrast index ring and stress-induced birefringence, the PM-PRCF features support for 10 vector modes, with effective refractive index separations from their adjacent modes >10?4. Broadband performance is investigated subsequently over a wide wavelength range from 1500 to 1630 nm. The proposed fiber is targeted at applications in space-division multiplexing while eliminating the complex multiple-input multiple-output signal processing.

Two kinds of Nb-doped silica fibers, an NbCl5-doped fiber and an Nb2O5-doped fiber, are fabricated and characterized in this Letter. First, the refractive index profiles of both fibers are obtained, and then their Raman spectra are measured with 785 nm exciting light. The Nb-doped fibers’ Raman spectra are compared with a conventional GeO2-doped single-mode silica fiber that is prepared with the same method and under the same conditions. As a result, the Raman gain coefficients of the Nb-doped silica fiber core are obtained. The experimental results show that Nb2O5 doping can enhance the Raman scattering intensity of the optical fibers.

The group-delay dispersion of an optical fiber was measured with the time-of-flight method, using fingerprint-like characteristic spectra from a mode-locked fiber laser source. To determine the group-delay dispersion up to the fourth order, least-squares fitting was applied to the overall time waveform mapped on the time axis for the fingerprint- spectral broadband pulses through a long optical fiber. The analysis of all 4003 data points reduced statistical uncertainty, and provided second-, third-, and fourth-order dispersion with uncertainties of 0.02%, 0.4%, and 4%, respectively.

The spin effect on a single-mode single-polarization optical fiber is investigated theoretically and numerically. To get a practical single elliptically polarized fiber the normalized spin rate must be in the range of 0.2–0.35. A single elliptically polarized fiber with a normalized spin rate around 0.224 is demonstrated. It has a broad band from 1.530 to 1.558 μm, in which the low-leakage elliptically polarized eigenmode loss is kept within 1.2 dB while the high-leakage elliptically polarized eigenmode loss is greater than 20 dB. This fiber can be used as an elliptical polarizer or applied in current sensing.

The characteristic equation of orbital angular momentum modes in a ring fiber is derived. By solving the equation with the graphical method, mode distribution in a ring fiber can be precisely determined for arbitrary fiber parameters without relying on simulation of the vector field. This will provide a useful method to determine the separation between quasi-degenerate modes in a ring fiber.

Preparation and characterization of a liquid level sensor based on macro-bending coupling of fibers are demonstrated in this Letter. The sensitive component can be obtained through a twisting and twining structure of transparent cladding plastic fibers. The difference in light power originating from the surrounding media in the fibers is tested. The light power loss for different tested media and the fiber bending magnitude are investigated. The sensing measurements show that the coupling light power in the passive fiber decreases in accordance with increasing liquid level, whereas it exhibits a steady tendency in the case of the active fiber.