Mon, 26 Nov 2001

Last week is Thanksgiving Holiday. During Thanksgiving, I read some
books on Fiber Optics:

  1. Fiber Optics Communication Systems By Govind P. Agrawal
  2. Introduction to Fiber Optics by John Crisp(It is too simple.)

So I got some ideas on geometrical-optics description about fiber:
step-index one and graded-index one. I also know the concepts of
fiber-modes according to Maxwell's equations.

Thu, 29 Nov 2001

I went to Laser Center and discuss some fiber problems with another
graduate student Quan Wen who also takes Optic Rotation. And I tried
to get familiar with setting up the whole system.

Fri, 30 Nov 2001

Today Dr. John Noe talk with me and give me some directions on how to
adjust the fiber system and some ideas about my next step.

By using multi-mode fiber and some tricks, I can get a pretty good
output under single-mode fiber.

Sat, 30 Nov 2001
 
Today I begin to read "Introduction to Fiber Optics" by Ajoy Ghatak
and K.  Thyagarajan.

Wed, 5 Dec 2001

Through reading "Introduction to Fiber Optics", I got many ideas on
characters of step-index fiber such as Gaussian distribution(far
field), splice loss(angular, longitude, transverse), Petermann-2 spot
size. Plus some understanding on dispersion of fiber.

Fri, 7 Dec 2001

In laser center, I learned how to measure light density of original
He-Ne laser and laser after fiber. It is really hard to fit as many as
laser into fiber. It is also conceptually beautiful. Working with
fibers builds a valuable skill for me.

At the same time, Dr. John Noe told me some interesting ideas on
polarization fluctuations in a Helium-Neon laser. He taught me how to
get light density data through computer. It is really an interesting
topic!

Mon, 10 Dec 2001

With help of Dr. John Noe, I set up the whole system to measure
intensity fluctuation of He-Ne laser. Dr. John Noe also showed me some
interesting experiments on polarization such as short laser intensity
fluctuation and sugar water polarization.

Tues, 11 Dec 2001

I set up another system to measure the fiber's effect on intensity
fluctuation.  By changing the status of fiber (tighten or loose,
straighten or loop), we can get the clear idea on it. It is really
interesting!