Abstract

A novel birefringence magnification technique that uses a ring resonator in a Sagnac interferometer is proposed and demonstrated. An enhancement factor of 38 was obtained experimentally. The scheme can be used to increase measurement sensitivity to small birefringence and polarization mode dispersion and to decrease the threshold for nonlinear switching and laser mode locking by a Sagnac interferometer.

© 2005 Optical Society of America

Ring resonator in a Sagnac loop

Eli Simova, Ilya Golub, and Marie-Josée Picard
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 22(8) 1723-1730 (2005)

π-shifted Sagnac interferometer for characterization of femtosecond first- and second-order polarization mode dispersion

I. Golub and E. Simova
Opt. Lett. 27(19) 1681-1683 (2002)

Compensation of polarization-dependent loss in transmission fiber gratings by use of a Sagnac loop interferometer

Chang-Seok Kim, Bernard Choi, J. Stuart Nelson, Qun Li, Pedram Zare Dashti, and H. P. Lee
Opt. Lett. 30(1) 20-22 (2005)

Righting the handedness’ dichotomy: schemes of Sagnac interferometer containing chiral elements for suppression of dependence on circular birefringence and circular dichroism

Hourieh Exir and Ilya Golub
Opt. Express 21(20) 24112-24118 (2013)

Polarization Sagnac interferometer with postmodulation for gravitational-wave detection

Peter T. Beyersdorf, M. M. Fejer, and R. L. Byer
Opt. Lett. 24(16) 1112-1114 (1999)