Fiber Bragg Gratings With Reflectivity > 97% Fabricated Through Polymer Jacket Using Near-UV Light

Abstract

Fiber Bragg gratings are important components for a variety of applications including WDM communications, fiber lasers and fiber sensors. An expensive and time consuming step for Bragg grating fabrication is the removal of the protective polymer coating of the fiber in order to expose the photosensitive fiber core [1]. Removing the fiber’s polymer jacket and exposing the glass cladding surface to the atmosphere and UV light also substantially decreases the strength of the fiber [2,3].