1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to optical devices and, more specifically, the present invention relates to inducing strain in optical devices.
2. Background Information
The need for fast and efficient optical-based technologies is increasing as Internet data traffic growth rate is overtaking voice traffic pushing the need for optical communications. Commonly used optical components include diffraction gratings, thin-film filters, fiber Bragg gratings, and arrayed-waveguide gratings.
A fiber Bragg grating is an optical fiber device that includes an optical fiber with periodic changes in the refractive index of fiber core materials along the fiber length, which may be formed by exposure of the photosensitive core to an intense optical interference pattern. With the changes in the refractive index along the fiber length, optical beams at a particular wavelength are reflected by the fiber Bragg grating while other wavelengths are allowed to propagate through the fiber.
Inherent properties of materials may limit the manufacture and use of many optical devices. As a result, producing such optical devices can often be expensive and time consuming. For example, manufacturing a Bragg grating to achieve the changes of the refractive index along the fiber length can sometimes include complicated process steps. As another example, many materials become birefringent when subjected to mechanical strain. As a result, many gratings and other optical devices can exhibit an unwanted polarization dependence of an optical beam traveling through the device. Laser trimming or other processes may be used to address such a problem but can often be cumbersome as the process may involve modifying each device individually.