Spectral characterization of fiber Bragg grating with etched fiber cladding

A new method is presented to tune Bragg wavelength slightly by using hydrofluoric acid to etch fiber cladding. The spectral characteristics before and after etching and the change properties of Bragg wavelength are studied. Cladding modes are reduced during the etching process. High-order cladding modes are converted into radiation modes, and energy of cladding modes is coupled to the outside. As the cladding radius decreases, the Bragg wavelength shifts to longer direction. Experimental results show that this method can tune Bragg wavelength slightly, and the tunable range is 0.002-0.120 nm.