Applied Physics B, November 2012, Volume 109, Issue 2, pp 239-247.
Ilya L. Snetkov, Oleg V. Palashov
Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 46 Ulyanov Street, 603950, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Abstract
A Faraday isolator system with external compensation of thermally induced birefringence was investigated for the case when optical components of the Faraday isolator and the compensator are made of different materials. Simultaneous reduction of thermally induced depolarization and thermal lens in the Faraday isolator based on a TGG crystal was demonstrated experimentally for the first time using an Sm:CaF2 crystal. A method of compensating thermally induced birefringence without reciprocal polarization rotator was described theoretically and demonstrated in experiments for the first time. It was used as a basis for a new scheme of Faraday isolator with external compensation of thermally induced birefringence.