Position weighting of fiber Bragg gratings for bandpass filtering.

A fiber Bragg grating bandpass filter with tailored refractive-index modulation is investigated. The writing method includes a position weighting technique, which provides flexible and accurate control of the index modulation along the fiber. This weighting is accomplished by adjusting the positions of a large number of overlapping subgratings to control the local grating strength. A 10-cm grating with a truncated $sin\left(x\right)/x$ refractive-index modulation function was written and characterized with this method, showing good agreement with simulations. These types of filter are well suited for wavelength-division-multiplexing applications and can be made to have steep edges, low sidelobes, large bandwidth, and low stopband ripple.