Tunable gratings in a hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber based on acousto-optic interaction

We demonstrate a coherent intermodal coupling in a hollow-core photonic bandgap fibers (PBGF) using an acoustic grating. A theoretical study on the properties of acoustic and optical wave propagating the PBGF is performed indicating that the applied frequency higher than 10 MHz is required to obtain the acousto-optic interaction at the wavelength around 1550 nm. Wavelength-tunable coupling from fundamental mode to higher-order core modes is achieved with more than 90% coupling efficiency at the applied frequency of 11.54 MHz. The low dispersive properties and the mode filed distributions of the higher-order guided modes of the air-core PBGF in the experiment show reasonable agreement with the simulation results.