Analysis of fiber Bragg gratings by a side-diffraction interference technique

A new nondestructive, noncontact, and sensitive technique for fiber Bragg grating geometry and index-fault location measurements is presented. Two plane-wave probe laser beams are incident upon the grating from the side at angles that satisfy the Bragg-reflection condition An interference pattern is formed behind the fiber between the first-order diffracted beam (from one probe beam) and the zero-order transmitted beam (from the second probe beam). The axial grating index modulation and the grating period are functions of the fringe visibility and the fringe period, respectively. The method is sensitive and is applicable even in the case of relatively weak gratings. Unchirped and chirped Bragg gratings have been studied with the proposed technique. We demonstrate accuracies of 1 x 10(-4) for measurement of the index modulation and 0.01 Mn for measurement of the period. As well as for the analysis of mast already-fabricated gratings, this technique is useful for in situ analysis of a long fiber Bragg grating as such a grating is translated along its axis during the fabrication process. (C) 2001 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 050.0050, 060.2340, 060.2310, 090.2880, 120.3180, 230.1480.