Birefringent-fiber polarization coupler

Periodically stressing a birefringent fiber once per beat length can cause coherent coupling to occur between polarization modes. Such a birefringent-fiber polarization coupler is described here. More than 30 dB of power transfer between polarizations has been achieved. The device has been used as the output coupler of an in-line Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and better than 25-dB on/off extinction has been measured. The device is wavelength selective and can be used as a multiplexer or as a notch filter. A notch of 9-nm full width at half-maximum has been achieved with a 60-period comb structure.