Abstract
The formation mechanisms and properties of arc-induced gratings are intrinsically related to the temperature attained by the fiber during arc exposure. In this work, we present further results oil the estimation of the fiber temperature based oil the use of electrically insulated thermocouples. Computer simulations show that under typical arc discharge conditions, the fiber reaches steady-state thermal equilibrium in less than half a second, having a peak temperature of about 1350 degrees C (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Abstract
We discuss the writing of arc-induced long-period fiber gratings to be used as optical filters in Er/Yb fiber lasers and for flattening the gain spectra of Er-doped fiber amplifiers. A new approach for the fabrication of filters with complex profiles is also presented. (c) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Abstract
The electric arc technique is used to apodize fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). Arc discharges applied to the ends of the grating produce a smoothing of the refractive-index modulation profile reducing the sidelobes of the reflection spectrum at longer wavelengths. A sidelobe reduction of 17 dB was obtained. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Abstract
The thermal behavior of long-period gratings arc-induced in B/Ge codoped fibers is presented. We also demonstrated the possibility to erase gratings written in Ge-doped and B/Ge codoped fibers through uniform exposure to UV-laser radiation. The gratings spectra were afterward recovered by thermal annealing. permanent thermally induced refractive index changes were found. (C) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Abstract
OTDM-to-WDM conversion from 128.1 Gbit/s to 3x42.7Gbit/s is achieved by wavelength conversion using side filtering of SPM broadened spectrum in HNLF, followed by a single electro-absorption modulator based optical gate. A maximum 2dB penalty was achieved. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.

Abstract
Integrated optics is a mature technology with standard applications to telecommunications. Since the pioneering work of Berger et al. 1999 beam combiners for optical interferometry have been built using this technology. Classical integrated optics device production is very expensive and time consuming. The rapid production of devices using hybrid sol-gel materials in conjunction with UV laser direct writing techniques allows overcoming these limitations. In this paper this technology is tested for astronomical applications. We report on the design, fabrication and characterization of multiaxial two beam combiners and a coaxial beam combiner for astronomical interferometry. Different multiaxial two beam combiner designs were tested and high contrast (better than 90%) was obtained with a 1.3 mu m laser diode and with an SLID (lambda(0) = 1.26 mu m, FWHM of 60 nm). High contrast fringes were produced with 1.3 mu m laser diode using the coaxial two beam combiner. These results show that hybrid sol-gel techniques produce devices with high quality, allowing the rapid prototyping of new designs and concepts for astronomy.