Jacques Albert

Publications (30)72.21 Total impact

• Article: Polarization-maintaining fiber-optic-grating vector vibroscope.

  Tuan Guo, Libin Shang, Fu Liu, Chuang Wu, Bai-Ou Guan, Hwa-Yaw Tam, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: A fiber-optic vector vibroscope based on orthogonal polarization cladding-to-core recoupling is demonstrated. A compact structure in which a short section of polarization-maintained (PM) fiber stub containing a straight fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is spliced to another single-mode fiber. Two well-defined orthogonally polarized cladding modes reflected by the PM-FBG are recoupled at the junction and the coupling intensity shows an extremely high sensitivity to bending in the corresponding orthogonal directions. Both the orientation and amplitude of the vibrations can be determined unambiguously via dual-path power detection of these recoupled orthogonal-polarimetric cladding modes (LP_1,12 and LP_1,13). Since spectral information is not required, temperature changes do not affect the sensor response, and power fluctuations can be referenced out by monitoring the power in the core mode (LP_0,1) resonance.
  Optics Letters 02/2013; 38(4):531-3. · 3.40 Impact Factor
• Article: Polarized spectral combs probe optical fiber surface plasmons.

  Christophe Caucheteur, Valérie Voisin, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: The high-order cladding modes of conventional single mode fiber come in semi-degenerate pairs corresponding to mostly radially or mostly azimuthally polarized light. Using tilted fiber Bragg gratings to excite these mode families separately, we show how plasmonic coupling to a thin gold coating on the surface of the fiber modifies the effective indices of the modes differently according to polarization and to mode order. In particular, we show the existence of a single "apolarized" grating resonance, with equal effective index for all input polarization states. This special resonance provides direct evidence of the excitation of a surface plasmon on the metal surface but also an absolute wavelength reference that allows for the precise localization of the most sensitive resonances in refractometric and biochemical sensing applications. Two plasmon interrogation methods are proposed, based on wavelength and amplitude measurements. Finally, we use a biotin-streptavidin biomolecular recognition experiment to demonstrate that differential spectral transmission measurements of a fine comb of cladding mode resonances in the vicinity of the apolarized resonance provide the most accurate method to extract information from plasmon-assisted Tilted fiber Bragg gratings, down to pM concentrations and at least 10^-5 refractive index changes.
  Optics Express 02/2013; 21(3):3055-3066. · 3.59 Impact Factor
• Article: Fiber Optic pH Sensor with Self-Assembled Polymer Multilayer Nanocoatings.

  Li-Yang Shao, Ming-Jie Yin, Hwa-Yaw Tam, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: A fiber-optic pH sensor based on a tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG) with electrostatic self-assembly multilayer sensing film is presented. The pH sensitive polymeric film, poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) was deposited on the circumference of the TFBG with the layer-by-layer (LbL) electrostatic self-assembly technique. The PDDA/PAA film exhibits a reduction in refractive index by swelling in different pH solutions. This effect results in wavelength shifts and transmission changes in the spectrum of the TFBG. The peak amplitude of the dominant spectral fringes over a certain window of the transmission spectrum, obtained by FFT analysis, has a near-linear pH sensitivity of 117 arbitrary unit (a.u.)/pH unit and an accuracy of ±1 a.u. (in the range of pH 4.66 to pH 6.02). The thickness and surface morphology of the sensing multilayer film were characterized to investigate their effects on the sensor's performance. The dynamic response of the sensor also has been studied (10 s rise time and 18 s fall time for a sensor with six bilayers of PDDA/PAA).
  Sensors 01/2013; 13(2):1425-34. · 1.74 Impact Factor
• Article: Fiber-optic vector vibroscope.

  Tuan Guo, Libin Shang, Yang Ran, Bai-Ou Guan, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: A directional vibration sensor based on polarization-controlled cladding-to-core recoupling is demonstrated. A compact structure in which a short section of multi-mode fiber (MMF) stub containing a weakly tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG) is spliced to another single-mode fiber without any lateral offset. Multiple core modes of the MMF are coupled at the junction and appear as well defined resonances in reflection from the TFBG. Some of those resonances exhibit a strong polarization and bending dependence. Both the orientation and the amplitude of the vibrations can be determined unambiguously via dual-path power detection of the orthogonal-polarimetric lowest order LP(1n) modes. Meanwhile, the unwanted power fluctuations and temperature perturbations can be referenced out by monitoring the fundamental LP(01) mode resonance.
  Optics Letters 07/2012; 37(13):2703-5. · 3.40 Impact Factor
• Article: In situ biosensing with a surface plasmon resonance fiber grating aptasensor.

  Yanina Shevchenko, Tariq J Francis, David A D Blair, Ryan Walsh, Maria C DeRosa, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors prepared using optical fibers can be used as a cost-effective and relatively simple-to-implement alternative to well established biosensor platforms for monitoring biomolecular interactions in situ or possibly in vivo. The fiber biosensor presented in this study utilizes an in-fiber tilted Bragg grating to excite the SPR on the surface of the sensor over a large range of external medium refractive indices, with minimal cross-sensitivity to temperature and without compromising the structural integrity of the fiber. The label-free biorecognition scheme used demonstrates that the sensor relies on the functionalization of the gold-coated fiber with aptamers, synthetic DNA sequences that bind with high specificity to a given target. In addition to monitoring the functionalization of the fiber by the aptamers in real-time, the results also show how the fiber biosensor can detect the presence of the aptamer's target, in various concentrations of thrombin in buffer and serum solutions. The findings also show how the SPR biosensor can be used to evaluate the dissociation constant (K(d)), as the binding constant agrees with values already reported in the literature.
  Analytical Chemistry 08/2011; 83(18):7027-34. · 5.86 Impact Factor
• Article: Interrogation technique for TFBG-SPR refractometers based on differential orthogonal light states.

  Valérie Voisin, Christophe Caucheteur, Patrice Mégret, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: The generation of near-IR surface plasmon resonance in gold-coated tilted fiber Bragg gratings is strongly dependent on both the polarization state of the transmission light and the property of confining materials (including the coating materials and surrounding media). These dependencies can be advantageously used to demodulate the amplitude spectrum and retrieve the surrounding refractive index. In this paper, we present an automated demodulation technique that measures the surrounding refractive index by comparing the differential amplitude of resonance peaks near the plasmon attenuation for two orthogonal amplitude spectra recorded in the same operating conditions. A mean sensitivity of more than 500 nm per refractive index unit is reported. This new refractive index measurement method is shown to be accurate to 5×10(-5) over a full range of 0.01 in water solutions.
  Applied Optics 08/2011; 50(22):4257-61. · 1.41 Impact Factor
• Article: Linear and nonlinear optical properties of carbon nanotube-coated single-mode optical fiber gratings.

  Guillermo E Villanueva, Michael B Jakubinek, Benoit Simard, Claudio J Oton, Joaquín Matres, Li-Yang Shao, Pere Pérez-Millán, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: Single-wall carbon nanotube deposition on the cladding of optical fibers has been carried out to fabricate an all-fiber nonlinear device. Two different nanotube deposition techniques were studied. The first consisted of repeatedly immersing the optical fiber into a nanotube supension, increasing the thickness of the coating in each step. The second deposition involved wrapping a thin film of nanotubes around the optical fiber. For both cases, interaction of transmitted light through the fiber core with the external coating was assisted by the cladding mode resonances of a tilted fiber Bragg grating. Ultrafast nonlinear effects of the nanotube-coated fiber were measured by means of a pump-probe pulses experiment.
  Optics Letters 06/2011; 36(11):2104-6. · 3.40 Impact Factor
• Article: High resolution interrogation of tilted fiber grating SPR sensors from polarization properties measurement.

  Christophe Caucheteur, Yanina Shevchenko, Li-Yang Shao, Marc Wuilpart, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: The generation of surface plasmon resonances (SPRs) in gold-coated weakly tilted fiber Bragg gratings (TFBGs) strongly depends on the state of polarization of the core guided light. Recently, it was demonstrated that rotating the linear state of polarization of the guided light by 90° with respect to the grating tilt allows to turn the SPR on and off. In this work, we measure the Jones matrix associated to the TFBG transmission properties in order to be able to analyze different polarization-related parameters (i.e. dependency on wavelength of polarization dependent loss and first Stokes parameter). As they contain the information about the SPR, they can be used as a robust and accurate demodulation technique for refractometry purposes. Unlike other methods reported so far, a tight control of the input state of polarization is not required. The maximum error on refractive index measurement has been determined to be ~1 10(-5) refractive index unit (RIU), 5 times better than intensity-based measurements on the same sensors.
  Optics Express 01/2011; 19(2):1656-64. · 3.59 Impact Factor
• Article: Fiber optic pressure sensing with conforming elastomers.

  Li-Yang Shao, Qi Jiang, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: A novel pressure sensing scheme based on the effect of a conforming elastomer material on the transmission spectrum of tilted fiber Bragg gratings is presented. Lateral pressure on the elastomer increases its contact angle around the circumference of the fiber and strongly perturbs the optical transmission of the grating. Using an elastomer with a Young's modulus of 20 MPa, a Poisson ratio of 0.48, and a refractive index of 1.42, the sensor reacts monotonically to pressures from 0 to 50 kPa (and linearly from 0 to 15 kPa), with a standard deviation of 0.25 kPa and maximum error of 0.5 kPa. The data are extracted from the optical transmission spectrum using Fourier analysis and we show that this technique makes the response of the sensor independent of temperature, with a maximum error of 2% between 25°C and 75°C. Finally, other pressure ranges can be reached by using conforming materials with different modulii or applying the pressure at different orientations.
  Applied Optics 12/2010; 49(35):6784-8. · 1.41 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: carleton.ca

  Article: In situ monitoring of the formation of nanoscale polyelectrolyte coatings on optical fibers using Surface Plasmon Resonances.

  Yanina Shevchenko, Nur Uddin Ahamad, Anatoli Ianoul, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: Deposition of a conformal nanoscale polymer coating was characterized using a fiber SPR sensor. The sensor platform consisted of an unmodified gold-coated single mode fiber where SPR was excited through the coupling of the core mode into the cladding modes using a Tilted Fiber Bragg Grating. The results from this study show how the sensor can monitor in real time the formation of polyelectrolyte coatings during a process consisting of several stages of immersion. The experimental data was further calibrated by simulations and Atomic Force Microscope imaging allowing us to determine the thickness and refractive index of the adsorbed polyelectrolyte.
  Optics Express 09/2010; 18(19):20409-21. · 3.59 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: Li-Yang Shao

  Article: Intrinsic temperature sensitivity of tilted fiber Bragg grating based surface plasmon resonance sensors.

  Li-Yang Shao, Yanina Shevchenko, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: A miniature surface plasmon resonance sensor is fabricated from a gold-coated standard optical fiber with an in-core tilted fiber Bragg grating fabricated by UV exposure. The sensor has a measured refractive index sensitivity of 571.5 nm/RIU (refractive index unit) at constant temperature. We show here that the intrinsic temperature sensitivity of this device is reduced to less than 6.3 pm/degrees C (between 23 degrees C and 59 degrees C) when measurements are referenced to a core mode reflection resonance of the grating. This residual sensitivity is essentially that of the 50 nm thick deposited gold layer but it is bigger by one order of magnitude than the expected value (0.51 pm/degrees C) for a gold-water interface.
  Optics Express 05/2010; 18(11):11464-71. · 3.59 Impact Factor
• Article: Compact fiber-optic vector inclinometer.

  Li-Yang Shao, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: What we believe to be a novel fiber-optical inclinometer based on a dual-path core-to-cladding mode coupling mechanism is demonstrated. Both the amplitude and tilt direction of bends about a 2-mm-long flexure joint in an optical fiber can be determined. The sensor head consists of a nonadiabatic abrupt taper cascaded with a weakly tilted fiber Bragg grating. Measured bend angles of up to 12 degrees are demonstrated, as well as a method to increase the sensitivity for bend angles smaller than 4 degrees.
  Optics Letters 04/2010; 35(7):1034-6. · 3.40 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: polyu.edu.hk

  Article: Tilted fiber grating accelerometer incorporating an abrupt biconical taper for cladding to core recoupling.

  Tuan Guo, Liyang Shao, Hwa-Yaw Tam, Peter A Krug, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: We demonstrate a compact power-referenced fiber-optic accelerometer using a weakly tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG) combined with an abrupt biconical taper. The electric-arc-heating induced taper is located a short distance upstream from the TFBG and functions as a bridge to recouple the TFBG-excited lower-order cladding modes back into the fiber core. This recoupling is extremely sensitive to microbending. We avoid complex wavelength interrogation by simply monitoring power change in reflection, which we show to be proportional to acceleration. In addition, the Bragg resonance is virtually unaffected by fiber bending and can be used as a power reference to cancel out any light source fluctuations. The proposed sensing configuration provides a constant linear response (nonlinearity < 1%) over a vibration frequency range from DC to 250 Hz. The upper vibration frequency limit of measurement is determined by mechanical resonance, and can be tuned by varying the sensor length. The tip-reflection sensing feature enables the sensor head to be made small enough (20~100 mm in length and 2 mm in diameter) for embedded detection. The polymer-tube-package makes the sensor sufficiently stiff for in-field acceleration measurement.
  Optics Express 11/2009; 17(23):20651-60. · 3.59 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: oharacorp.com

  Article: Directly photoinscribed refractive index change and Bragg gratings in Ohara WMS-15 glass ceramic.

  Peter A Krug, Rodica Matei Rogojan, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: We inscribed thick volume gratings in WMS-15 glass ceramic by ultraviolet light at 193 and 248 nm. Unlike earlier work in ceramic materials, the inscription process modified the optical properties of the material without the need for any additional chemical or thermal processing. Experimental evidence from measurements of grating growth, thermal annealing, and spectral absorption indicates that two distinct physical mechanisms are responsible for the grating formation. Weak, easily thermally bleached gratings resulted from exposure fluences below 0.3 kJ/cm2. Optical absorption measurements suggest that these low fluence gratings are predominantly absorption gratings. More thermally stable gratings, found to be refractive index gratings with unsaturated refractive index modulation amplitude as large as 6 x 10(-5) were formed at cumulative fluences of 1 kJ/cm2 and above.
  Applied Optics 07/2009; 48(18):3429-37. · 1.41 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: polyu.edu.hk

  Article: Reflective tilted fiber Bragg grating refractometer based on strong cladding to core recoupling.

  Tuan Guo, Hwa-Yaw Tam, Peter A Krug, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: A novel in-fiber structure for power-referenced refractometry with the capability to measure surrounding refractive index (SRI) as low as 1.33 is proposed and demonstrated. A short optical fiber stub containing a weakly tilted Bragg grating is spliced to another fiber with a large lateral offset. The reflection from this structure occurs in two well-defined wavelength bands, the Bragg reflected core mode and the cladding modes. The cladding modes reflect different amounts of power as the SRI changes, while the core-mode reflection from the same weakly tilted FBG remains unaffected by the SRI. The power reflected in the core mode band can be used as a reliable reference to cancel out any possible power fluctuations. The proposed refractometer with improved sensitivity for low SRI measurement together with the tip-reflection sensing feature, is a good candidate for sensing in chemical and biological applications.
  Optics Express 04/2009; 17(7):5736-42. · 3.59 Impact Factor
• Article: Non-uniform-tilt-modulated fiber Bragg grating for temperature-immune micro-displacement measurement

  Tuan Guo, Chengkun Chen, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: Temperature-immune micro-displacement measurement is demonstrated by using a Gaussian-chirped tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG). The internal tilt angles of the sensing TFBG are effectively modulated via a displacement-induced Gaussian-strain-gradient along the specially designed bending cantilever beam. The phase mismatch between different effective pitches and tilt angles weakens the core-to-cladding mode coupling as the beam is displaced. While the power of the ghost mode resonance in transmission shows a strong sensitivity to the displacement, it is immune from spatially uniform temperature changes. Ghost-power-referenced displacement measurement and temperature-insensitive property are experimentally achieved for this cost-effective sensing device.
  Measurement Science and Technology 02/2009; 20(3):034007. · 1.49 Impact Factor
• Article: Tilted fiber Bragg grating sensor interrogation system using a high-resolution silicon-on-insulator arrayed waveguide grating.

  Pavel Cheben, Edith Post, Siegfried Janz, Jacques Albert, Albane Laronche, Jens H Schmid, Dan-Xia Xu, Boris Lamontagne, Jean Lapointe, André Delâge, Adam Densmore
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  ABSTRACT: We report a compact high-resolution arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) interrogator system designed to measure the relative wavelength spacing between two individual resonances of a tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG) refractometer. The TFBG refractometer benefits from an internal wavelength and power reference provided by the core mode reflection resonance that can be used to determine cladding mode perturbations with high accuracy. The AWG interrogator is a planar waveguide device fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator platform, having 50 channels with a 0.18 nm wavelength separation and a footprint of 8 mmx8 mm. By overlaying two adjacent interference orders of the AWG we demonstrate simultaneous monitoring of two widely separated resonances in real time with high wavelength resolution. The standard deviation of the measured wavelength shifts is 1.2 pm, and it is limited by the resolution of the optical spectrum analyzer used for the interrogator calibration measurements.
  Optics Letters 12/2008; 33(22):2647-9. · 3.40 Impact Factor
• Article: Quasi-distributed refractometer using tilted Bragg gratings and time domain reflectometry.

  Christophe Caucheteur, Marc Wuilpart, Chengkun Chen, Patrice Mégret, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: Tilted fiber Bragg gratings (TFBGs) have been demonstrated to be accurate refractometers as they couple light from the fiber core to the cladding. Because they require spectral measurements on several tens of nanometers, demodulation techniques reported so far are not suited for quasi-distributed refractive index sensing using TFBGs cascaded along a single optical fiber. We demonstrate here that a commercial Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) can be used to multiplex identical TFBGs refractometers written in the same optical fiber. Our solution is simple, relatively fast, cost-effective and is particularly interesting for the monitoring of long structures.
  Optics Express 11/2008; 16(22):17882-90. · 3.59 Impact Factor
• Article: Sensitivity of photonic crystal fiber modes to temperature, strain and external refractive index.

  Chengkun Chen, Albane Laronche, Géraud Bouwmans, Laurent Bigot, Yves Quiquempois, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: Several strong narrowband resonances are observed in the transmission spectra of fiber Bragg gratings photo-written in photonic crystal fiber that has a refractive index-neutral germanium/fluorine co-doped core. Experimental results for the strain, temperature and refractive index sensitivities of these mode resonances are reported and compared to those of conventional single mode fiber. In particular, we identify three kinds of resonances whose relative sensitivities to strain, temperature and refractive index are markedly different and present numerical simulations to explain these properties. Potential multiparameter optical sensor applications of these mode resonances are briefly discussed.
  Optics Express 07/2008; 16(13):9645-53. · 3.59 Impact Factor
• Article: Temperature-independent tilted fiber grating vibration sensor based on cladding-core recoupling.

  Tuan Guo, Alexei Ivanov, Chengkun Chen, Jacques Albert
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  ABSTRACT: A novel structure in which a short optical fiber stub containing a weakly tilted Bragg grating is spliced to another slightly offset fiber. The total power reflected from this structure is independent of temperature and occurs in two well-defined wavelength bands, only one of which reflects a different amount of power as the fiber stub bends or vibrates. The smart sensing structure presents an extremely high sensitivity for microbending, and its frequency response has been tested to higher than 2 kHz so far in temperature-immune vibration measurements via cost-effective power detection.
  Optics Letters 06/2008; 33(9):1004-6. · 3.40 Impact Factor