Summary: | We demonstrated a promising CO<sub>2</sub> laser irradiation system based on an improved 2-D scanning technique. Such a system could be used to inscribe high-quality long period fiber gratings (LPFGs) with good reproducibility of grating inscription, which attributes to the fact that our system includes a CO<sub>2</sub> laser with an excellent power stability of less than ±2% and a 3-D ultraprecision motorized translation stages with an excellent bidirectional repeatability value of 80 nm. Moreover, a control program with an easy-to-use operation interface was developed in our system so that a high-quality LPFG could be achieved as soon as grating parameters, such as grating pitch and number of grating periods, are entered, which has a widespread commercial value and prospects for development. Additionally, near mode fields of the CO<sub>2</sub>-laser-induced LPFG were observed and simulated to investigate mode coupling in the gratings.
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