Effect of anomalous dispersion on visual photoreceptors

Stress homogenization effect in multicore fiber optic bending sensors

In this work we study the particular case of an optical fiber subjected to compression-bending load, the most common loading configuration for testing fiber optic bending sensors. Our analysis is based on the foundations of column theory and reveals a progressive stress homogenization across the optical fiber with increasing bending. This effect is general to any optical fiber subjected to this load configuration and it is of particular interest for structures with multiple cores since the state of stress experienced by each core can significantly differ even for a condition of constant load. The approach outlined here captures relevant features observed in experiments with multicore fiber optic bending sensors. Also, this approach can be incorporated into coupled-mode theory for assessing the performance of spectrally operated fiber sensors based on multicore coupled structures under realistic conditions commonly encountered in the experiments and without the need of performing computationally expensive simulations. The progressive stress homogenization, as well as the regime of homogeneous stress dominated by the bending contribution, is experimentally demonstrated using a multicore optical fiber with three coupled cores. Our observations are similar to those reported in recent experiments using other multicore fibers with different number of cores.

In-fiber directional coupler for high-sensitivity curvature measurement

A curvature fiber optic sensor using a two-core fiber (TCF) is proposed and demonstrated. The TCF is designed to operate as a directional coupler with one core located exactly at the center of the fiber and the other off-axis, but close to the center of the fiber. This design allows straightforward splicing of the TCF to single mode fibers (SMF), and alignment of the off-axis core is not strictly required for optimum operation. The sensor is fabricated by simply splicing a 5 cm long section of TCF between two SMF sections, which provides a sinusoidal spectral response. When the fiber is bent, the coupling parameters are modified due to stress-optic and effective length effects, effectively blue-shifting the sinusoidal spectral response of the sensor and allowing for the measurement of curvature. The sensor exhibits linear response and a sensitivity of -137.87 nm/m(-1) for curvature ranging from 0 to 0.27 m(-1), making it suitable to measure small curvatures with high sensitivity.

Anomalous disperison of rhodopsin in rod outer segments of the frog

Linear-retardation spectra of single frog-rod outer segments were measured by use of a microspectrophotometer equipped with polarizing optics. The recorded transmitted-flux variation was reduced to a rhodopsin anomalous-dispersion spectrum by use of the Jones calculus. This anomalous dispersion is compared with theoretical predictions.