FBG Characterisation Device

Tender description

This tender documentation is for the purchase of equipment that will be used in fabrication of fibre Bragg gratings. A fibre Bragg grating is an area within the core of an optical fibre that has a refractive index that changes periodically. The gratings are fabricated by exposing optical fibre to an interference pattern, generated from a UV laser beam, which is scanned and modulated to adjust the strength and phase of the periodic refractive index along the fibre length. The technique enables us to make optical devices with highly specific and customised spectral responses in both reflection and transmission. The periodicity of the gratings is typically of 500 nm with relative differential displacement modifications ranging from about 1-- 250 nm over a total length of up to 1 m. We shall also be procuring a high precision 1 m stage for scanning the inscription beam across the fibre. The current project is focusing on significantly increasing the accuracy and reproducibility of the fibre Bragg gratings that we manufacture. A new technique has been developed which depends on the rapid and accurate interrogation of the spectral response of the gratings as they are being written. This request is for a diagnostic instrument to perform this interrogation task.