Characterization of spun fibers with millimeter spin periods

Novel spun fibers with intrinsic asymmetric stress and millimeter spin periods are characterized both experimentally and theoretically. Based on the optical spectra of imprinted Bragg gratings, a new method is proposed to precisely measure their spin periods with a 0.1-mm spatial resolution. Properties of polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) and evolutions of polarization in these spun fibers are investigated. The intrinsic birefringence of spun fibers is then obtained with respect to the measured and simulated fiber PMD. Potential applications particularly in fiber sensing are discussed. It is shown that for these different applications, the requirements of fiber parameters are distinct. (C) 2005 Optical Society of America.