A ferrule-based method of direct fs FBG inscription through protective plastic coating is demonstrated. Fluctuations of fiber core position relative to the writing fs beam are compensated by the developed auto-alignment system. As a result, high-quality FBGs with length from 0.1 to 50 mm are fabricated in polyimide-coated fibers, whose spectra are well described by the theory. The fabricated FBGs have great potential in sensor applications at high temperature and harsh environments both point-action and distributed ones.

A compact random fiber laser based on a short artificial Rayleigh reflector and heavily-doped Er fibers (custom-made and commercial as a reference) has been proposed, characterized and optimized in terms of efficiency, linewidth and noise level. A 10-cm artificial Rayleigh reflector with mean scattering level of +41.3 dB/mm relative to the natural Rayleigh scattering of the host fiber and low insertion loss level (∼0.05 dB/cm at 1535 nm) was fabricated using a femtosecond direct writing technique. Its implementation as a distributed output mirror in a half-open cavity of a 980-nm diode pumped Er-doped fiber laser results in random lasing at 1535 nm in single- and few-mode regimes with power up to 100 mW, slope efficiency up to 16.5%, and signal-to-noise ratio up to 60 dB. A single-frequency regime with ∼10 KHz linewidth was observed at output power up to 2.5 mW. Tunability potential of such random lasers is also demonstrated.

Laser ablation (LA) of cancer is a minimally invasive technique based on targeted heat release. Controlling tissue temperature during LA is crucial to achieve the desired therapeutic effect in the organs while preserving the healthy tissue around. Here, we report the design and implementation of a real-time monitoring system performing closed-loop temperature control, based on fiber Bragg grating (FBG) spatial measurements. Highly dense FBG arrays (1.19 mm length, 0.01 mm edge-to-edge distance) were inscribed in polyimide-coated fibers using the femtosecond point-by-point writing technology to obtain the spatial resolution needed for accurate reconstruction of high-gradient temperature profiles during LA. The zone control strategy was implemented such that the temperature in the laser-irradiated area was maintained at specific set values (43 and 55 °C), in correspondence to specific radii (2 and 6 mm) of the targeted zone. The developed control system was assessed in terms of measured temperature maps during an ex vivo liver LA. Results suggest that the temperature-feedback system provides several advantages, including controlling the margins of the ablated zone and keeping the maximum temperature below the critical values. Our strategy and resulting analysis go beyond the state-of-the-art LA regulation techniques, encouraging further investigation in the identification of the optimal control-loop.

This paper presents the characterization of an algorithm aimed at performing accurate fiber optic-based shape sensing. The measurement of the shape relies on the evaluation of the strains applied to an optic fiber in order to identify relevant spatial parameters, such as the curvature radii and bending direction, which define its shape. The measurement system is based on a 7-core multicore fiber, containing up to 9 triplets of fiber Bragg grating sensors (FBGs) organized around a central core used as reference. The proposed study aims at comparing the widely used Frenet-Serret equations with an algorithm based on the homogeneous transformation matrices that are normally used in robotics to express the position of a point in different frames, i.e. from local to global coordinates. The numerical results of the performed experiments (with different multicore fibers and setups) extensively prove the superiority of the alternative method over the Frenet-Serret equations in terms of finding a trade-off between accuracy and execution time.

In this paper, we present the results of thermochemical LIPSS formation on a chromium film with a thickness in the range of 28-350 nm induced by femtosecond laser radiation (λ = 1026 nm, ν = 200 kHz, τ = 232 fs). The period, height, morphology and chemical composition of TLIPSS as a function of the metal film thickness and focusing configuration are investigated. The growth of TLIPSS period from 678 nm to 950 nm with increasing thickness of the film has been explained by a formation of oxides with different stoichiometry composition. So, the CrO₂ oxide prevails in the composition for the case of TLIPSS formed on thin films which have the minimal period, whereas Cr₂O₃ oxide is dominant in the case of TLIPSS formed on thick chromium films which have the maximal period value. The results obtained are in agreement with numerical modeling of a period defined by the interference between an incident radiation and a scattered one from a single oxide ridge with a different chemical composition.

In this article, we propose a temperature-based proportional–integral–derivative (PID) controlling algorithm using highly dense fiber Bragg grating (FBG) arrays for laser ablation (LA) of ex vivo pancreatic tissues. Custom-made highly dense FBG arrays with a spatial resolution of 1.2 mm were fabricated with the femtosecond point-by-point writing technology and optimized for LA applications. In order to obtain proper PID gain values, finite element method-based iterative simulation of different PID gains was performed. Then, the proposed algorithm, with numerically derived PID gains, was experimentally validated. In the experiments, the point temperature was controlled at different distances from the laser fiber tip (6.0, 7.2, 8.4, and 10.8 mm). The obtained results report robust controlling and correlation between controlled distance and the resulting area of ablation. The results of the work encourage further investigation of FBG array application for LA control.