Broadband-rejection filters using chirped and tilted fiber gratings

Broadband-trimming band-rejection filters based on chirped and tilted fiber Bragg gratings (CTFBG) are proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The flexible chirp-rate and wide tilt-angle provide the gratings with broadband filtering functions over a large range of bandwidth (from 10 nm to 150 nm), together with a low transmission loss (less than 1 dB) and a negligible back-reflection (lower than 20 dB). The slope profile of CTFBG in transmission can be easily tailored by adjusting the tilt angle, grating irradiation time and chirp rate-grating factor, and it is insensitive to polarization of launch condition. Furthermore, by coating the CTFBG with a suitable polymer (whose refractive index is close to that of the cladding glass), the cladding modes no longer form weakly discrete resonances and leave a smoothly varying attenuation spectrum for high-quality band rejection filters, edge filters and gain equalizers.