Abstract
The strain and temperature sensing characteristics of a modal interferometer based on two Bragg fibers have been investigated. The special nature of this sensor is that the two Bragg fibers used present a different external cladding shape. It appears that the sensitivity to the sensing parameters are different for the two Bragg fibers, which makes it possible to fabricate several sensing configurations based on the combination of these two Bragg fibers for strain and temperature discrimination.

Abstract
This article analyzes experimentally the limitations observed in lightwave systems using distributed Raman amplifiers operating under large pump power input conditions. The Brillouin effect is observed as the pump power reaches 1 W. The presence of Brillouin peaks degrades the performance of the system. The Raman amplification occurs in single mode and dispersion compensating fibers, being evaluated in a link at transmission rate of 40 Gb/s. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 52: 1331-1335, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.25162

Abstract
We present an overview of the applications of the electric arc technique related to optical fibre technology. The use of arc discharges ranges from the well-known fibre splicing, going through the fabrication of basic devices such as fibre tapers and microspheres, to tailoring the spectra of UV-induced gratings such as in the apodization of fibre Bragg gratings and also in the fabrication of phase-shifted and sampled fibre Bragg gratings. However, in the past decade a topic more intensively investigated was probably long-period fibre gratings. Therefore, some devices based on arc-induced gratings, namely, phase-shifted and step-changed gratings and bandpass filters are discussed. We also present an electrically insulated thermocouple assembled in situ using arc discharges. This sensor is very useful in the determination of the temperature attained by the fibre during an arc discharge, this property being fundamental for the discussion of the mechanisms of formation and for the understanding of the thermal properties of arc-induced devices.

Abstract
In this paper, direct UV-laser writing was used to produce channel waveguides and diffraction gratings on thin films of siliceous-based organic-inorganic hybrid materials. The optical quality of the films surface was studied by light scattering measurements. The produced Y-power splitters, optical filters and Fabry-Perot cavities were experimentally characterized for propagation in the near infrared spectral region. © 2010 IEEE.

Abstract
Integrated optics coaxial two, three and four telescope beam combiners have been fabricated by hybrid sol-gel technology for astronomical applications. Temporal and spectral analyses of the output interferometric signal have been performed, and their results are in mutual good agreement. The results of the characterization method employed are cross-checked using contrast measurements obtained independently, demonstrating that the chromatic differential dispersion is the main contributer to contrast reduction. The mean visibility of the fabricated devices is always higher than 95 %, obtained using a source with spectral bandwidth of 50 nm. These results show the capability of hybrid sol-gel technology for fast prototyping of complex chip designs used in astronomical applications. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America

Abstract
Hybrid sol-gel technology was used for fabrication of prototypes of coaxial two, three and four telescopes beam combiners for astronomical applications. These devices were designed for the astronomical J-band and have been characterized using an optical source with emission centered at 1265 nm and with a spectral FWHM of 50 nm. Interferometric characterization of the two, three and four beam combiners, showed average contrasts respectively higher than 98%, 96% and 95%. Interferometric spectral analysis of the beam combiners revealed that the chromatic differential dispersion is the main contributor to the observed contrast decay in the latter cases. The laser direct writing technique was used for fabrication of a coaxial two beam combiner on sol-gel material; it showed a contrast of 95%. The measured high contrast fringes confirm that the procedures used lead to performant IO beam combiners. These results demonstrate the capabilities of the hybrid sol-gel technology for fast prototyping of complex chip designs for astronomical applications.