Tuning sampled nonlinearly chirped fiber Bragg gratings with adjustable chirp and fixed center wavelength

A simple method for tuning a sampled nonlinearly chirped fiber Bragg grating (SNCFBG) without a center-wavelength shift is demonstrated experimentally. A uniform sampled fiber Bragg grating (SFBG) is adhered on a bent plastic plate along a precalculated curve. The nonlinear chirp among the SFBG channels is tuned when a displacement is applied to the free end of the plastic plate and the central wavelength of the grating is fixed. The dispersion varies from -996.3 to -117.9 ps/nm in the center channel and the center-wavelength shift is as small as 0.06 nm in the tuning process. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.