CHARACTERISTICS AND APPLICATIONS OF BIREFRINGENT-FIBER KERR-COUPLERS

We consider the effects of the pump power and the interaction length o n the efficiency of polarization coupling induced by the optical Kerr effect in high-birefringence fibers. An efficiency of up to 100% is pr edicted for suitable combinations of the length and the strength of th e birefringence grating in the fiber. The device is rapidly tunable, h ighly selective in wavelength, and independent of any thermal drift in the fiber. Potential applications include real-time tuning in wavelen gth-division demultiplexers, wavelength selection in optical spectrum analyzers, and band rejection in tunable notch filters.