arXiv subjects

Julian A. J. Fells

Publications and source records attributed to Julian A. J. Fells.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Sapphire Photonic Crystal Fiber Sensor

Sapphire optical fiber shows great promise for remote sensing in extreme environments approaching 2000 degC, by using laser-processing to form a single-mode waveguide within it. However, for practical application, longer devices with high manufacturability and reliability are required. We report the design, modeling, fabrication, and optimization of an index-guiding sapphire photonic crystal fiber Bragg grating temperature sensor. The device is fabricated using femtosecond laser direct writing to inscribe both the photonic crystal waveguide and the Bragg grating. A spatial light modulator was used to compensate for the mismatch between the immersion objective and the high-index oil used. This improved the aspect ratio and suppressed cracking during fabrication, for higher reliability. The design results in a 6-fold reduction in fabrication time over an equivalent depressed cladding waveguide, significantly reducing the cost of manufacture. Devices up to 7 cm long were fabricated and spliced to standard single-mode fiber. The propagation loss was estimated to be 0.7 dB/cm and the Bragg gratings had a bandwidth of approximately 0.12 nm. Devices were tested in a furnace showing a temperature sensitivity of between 19.0-32.3 pm/degC over a range 25-1200 degC. These longer devices have the potential to enable practical high precision extreme temperature monitoring in many applications, with lower manufacturing cost and higher reliability.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Intensity adaptive optics

Adaptive optics (AO) is a powerful tool employed across various research fields, from aerospace to microscopy. Traditionally, AO has focused on correcting optical phase aberrations, with recent advances extending to polarisation compensation. However, intensity errors are also prevalent in optical systems, yet effective correction methods are still in their infancy. Here, we introduce a novel AO approach, termed intensity adaptive optics (I-AO), which employs a dual-feedback loop mechanism to first address non-uniform intensity distribution and subsequently compensate for energy loss at the pupil plane. We demonstrate that I-AO can operate in both sensor-based and sensorless formats and validate its feasibility by quantitatively analysing the focus quality of an aberrated system. This technique expands the AO toolkit, paving the way for next-generation AO technology.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2024

Laser-written scalable sapphire integrated photonics platform

In this paper, we demonstrate the integration of photonic devices on sapphire substrates using multi-layer depressed cladding waveguides at both 780 nm and 1550 nm. The devices are up to 10-cm long and written at depths down to 400 um. The propagation losses for single-mode guiding are ~ 0.6 dB/cm at 780 nm and ~ 0.7 dB/cm at 1550 nm. A number of structures have been fabricated with simultaneous single-mode and polarization independent operation: evanescently coupled waveguide arrays, Y-branch splitters, Mach-Zehnder interferometers, and a 2x2 directional-coupler. All the devices were fabricated using adaptive optics-assisted femtosecond laser direct writing with a customized laser writing algorithm. This work enables the integration of single-mode sapphire photonics devices in a scalable manner, enabling many applications in communications, imaging, computing, and sensing.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

High-precision optical fiber sensing beyond 1000°C

Sapphire fiber can withstand around 2000°C, but it is multimoded, giving poor precision sensors. We demonstrate a single-mode sapphire fiber Bragg grating temperature sensor operating up to 1200°C. The repeatability above 1000°C is within {\pm}0.08%.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Topologically controlled multiskyrmions in photonic gradient-index lenses

Skyrmions are topologically protected quasiparticles, originally studied in condensed-matter systems and recently in photonics, with great potential in ultra-high-capacity information storage. Despite the recent attention, most optical solutions require complex and expensive systems yet produce limited topologies. Here we demonstrate an extended family of quasiparticles beyond normal skyrmions, which are controlled in confined photonic gradient-index media, extending to higher-order members such as multiskyrmions and multimerons, with increasingly complex topologies. We introduce new topological numbers to describe these complex photonic quasiparticles and propose how this new zoology of particles could be used in future high-capacity information transfer. Our compact creation system lends integrated and programmable solutions of complex particle textures, with potential impacts on both photonic and condensed-matter systems for revolutionizing topological informatics and logic devices.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Single-mode sapphire fiber Bragg grating

We present here the inscription of single-mode waveguides with Bragg gratings in sapphire. The waveguide Bragg gratings have a novel multi-layer depressed cladding design in the 1550 nm telecommunications waveband. The Bragg gratings have a narrow bandwidth (<0.5 nm) and have survived annealing at 1000°C. The structures are inscribed with femtosecond laser direct writing, using adaptive beam shaping with a non-immersion objective. A single-mode sapphire fiber Bragg grating is created by writing a waveguide with a Bragg grating within a 425 μm diameter sapphire optical fiber, providing significant potential for accurate remote sensing in ultra-extreme environments.

physics.optics↗