This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 10232, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction (if any), and Conference Committee listing.

We present a detailed chromatic dispersion characterization of heavy-metal oxide (HMO) glass photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) suitable for mid-infrared applications. Based on previous work with hexagonal and suspended-core fibers the focus was placed on determination of the chromatic dispersion curve to reach precise correlation between simulation model and real fiber based on both a post-draw model correction and broadband chromatic dispersion measurement. The paper covers the fiber design, discusses fiber manufacturing, presents measurements of fiber chromatic dispersion, provides the simulation model correction and finally proposes further applications. Selected fiber designs from simulation model were fabricated by the stack-and-draw technique. The dispersion measurement setup was based on an unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The influence of optical elements on the measurement results and broadband coupling is discussed. We have proved that the critical factor represents the accuracy of the refractive index equation of the HMO glass and real fiber structure. By improved technique we reached the zero-dispersion wavelength with a reasonable precision of less than 30 nm.

Silica optical fibers doped with rare-earth elements are key components of high-power fiber lasers operating in near-infrared region up to 2.1 μm. In this contribution we deal with preparation and optical characterization of silica-based optical preforms and fibers doped with thulium for fiber lasers operating around 2 μm. A set of fibers with thulium concentration ranges 1000-5000 ppm was prepared by the MCVD solution doping method and characterized. A decrease of fluorescence lifetime of thulium from 487 μs to 378 μs was observed with increasing rare-earth concentration in fiber core. This phenomenon can be explained by energy transfer between ions and ion clustering. Fabricated fibers were suitable for use in fiber lasers.

Fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) have widespread applications in security, information, structural health monitoring, and biophotonics. In telecom applications, FBG inscription has reached a high level of maturity, but remains mainly limited to germanium doped photosensitive single mode fibers. Special applications, like filtering in light harvesting fibers or resonator mirrors for fiber lasers have to deal with special aspects which make the design and realization of FBGs a challenging task. One aspect is the extended wavelength range of these applications. Another aspect is the increasing demand to inscribe fiber Bragg gratings in non-photosensitive germanium-free fibers. Therefore, novel concepts of photosensitivity are proposed. Finally, to increase the amount of captured light the size of the fiber core and the numerical aperture have also to be increased. This goes along with multimode operation and prevents good filtering properties of Bragg gratings.

The recently observed laser wavelength self-sweeping is known for its large sweeping range up to tens of nanometers, single- or few-longitudinal mode operation and self-pulsing output [1-5]. The self-sweeping can be explained by spatial hole burning along the active fiber. The spatial hole burning cause also weak refractive index modulation [6-7]. Self-swept fiber lasers recently attained attention thanks to its practical applications in laser spectroscopy and fiber sensor systems as well as revealing physical insight view into important laser physics phenomena, e.g., the origin of self-Q-switching regime and longitudinal mode-instabilities in fiber lasers. We present evaluation of the reflectivity of superimposed transient fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) using a numerical model of fiber laser with refractive index gratings build-up. In contrast to single refractive index grating demonstrated earlier [6-7] we present more realistic case of several superimposed gratings with damped modulation depth. We show that the 100 % reflectivity and thus sudden enhancement of the cavity Q-factor can be easily achieved despite small modulation depth of the gratings. The differences of reflectivities of the single FBG and of the multiple superimposed damped FBGs are discussed. This work was supported by the Czech Science Foundation, project No. 16-13306S. [1] A. Lobach, S. I. Kablukov, E. V. Podivilov, and S. A. Babin, “Broad-range self-sweeping of a narrow-line self-pulsing Yb-doped fiber laser,” Opt. Express 19, 17632-17640 (2011). [2] V. Kir’yanov and N. Il’ichev, “Self-induced laser line sweeping in an ytterbium fiber laser with non-resonant Fabry-Perot cavity,” Laser Phys. Lett. 8, 305-312 (2011). [3] P. Peterka, P. Navrátil, J. Maria, B. Dussardier, R. Slavík, P. Honzátko, and V. Kubeček, “Self-induced laser line sweeping in double-clad Yb-doped fiber-ring lasers,” Laser Phys. Lett. 9, 445-450 (2012). [4] P. Peterka, J. Maria, B. Dussardier, R. Slavik, P. Honzatko, and V. Kubecek, “Long-period fiber grating as wavelength selective element in double-clad Yb-doped fiber-ring lasers,” Laser Phys. Lett. 6, 732-736 (2009). [5] P. Peterka, P. Navrátil, B. Dussardier, R. Slavík, P. Honzátko, and V. Kubeček, “Self-induced laser line sweeping and self-pulsing in double-clad fiber lasers in Fabry-Perot and unidirectional ring cavities,” In Proc. SPIE 8433, 843309 (2012). [6] P. Peterka, P. Honzátko, P. Koška, F. Todorov, J. Aubrecht, O. Podrazký, and I. Kašík, "Reflectivity of transient Bragg reflection gratings in fiber laser with laser-wavelength self-sweeping," Opt. Express 22:30024-30031, 2014. [7] P. Peterka, P. Honzátko, P. Koška, F. Todorov, J. Aubrecht, O. Podrazký, and I. Kašík, "Reflectivity of transient Bragg reflection gratings in fiber laser with laser-wavelength self-sweeping: erratum," Opt. Express 24, 16222-16223 (2016)

In this contribution we report on the fabrication of novel bandpass transmission filters based on PS-FBGs in microstructured polymer fibers at telecom wavelengths. The phase mask technique is employed to fabricate several superimposed gratings with slight different periods in order to form Moiré structures with a single or various π phase shifts along the device. Simulations and experimental results are included in order to demonstrate very narrowband transmission filters. Experimental characterization under strain and temperature variations is provided in a non-annealed fiber and time stability of the fabricated devices has been also measured under different pre-strain conditions.

In this work, improvements in the photosensitivity of undoped POFs, where there was a welldefined pre-annealing of both preforms in two-step process, were reported. We have noticed that when the primary and secondary preforms are annealed, the fiber photosensitivity is higher; otherwise, if any preform (primary or secondary) is not annealed, the fiber photosensitivity is lower. Two PMMA mPOFs are used where the primary and secondary preforms, during the two-step drawing process, have a different thermal treatment. The PMMA POFs drawn where the primary or secondary preform is not specifically pre-treat need longer inscription time than the fibres drawn where both preforms have been pre-annealed at 80°C for 2 weeks. Using two different UV lasers, for the latter fibre much less inscription time is needed compared to another homemade POF. The properties of a POF fabricated where there are both preform process with thermal treatment is different from those where just one preform step process is thermal treated, as previously shown in the literature, where these POFs are much less sensitive to thermal treatment. Some important parameters were considered such as drawing tension and water content, where using fibers drawn in different tensions give us a similar FBG inscription time.

In this paper we present a study aimed at investigating an optical resiliency of polymers that could be applied in 3D femtosecond laser lithography. These include popular in lithography SU8 and OrmoClear as well as hybrid organic-inorganic zirconium containing SZ2080. We show that latter material in its pure (non-photosensitized) form has the best optical resiliency out of all tested materials. Furthermore, its 3D structurability is investigated. Despite threshold-like quality degradation outside fabrication window, we show that this material is suitable for creating complex 3D structures on the tips of optical fibers. Overall it is demonstrated, that unique capability of 3DLL to structure pure materials can lead to very compact functional fiber-based devices that could withstand high (GW/cm²) light intensities.

Two dimensional code marks are often used for the production management. In particular, in the production lines of liquid-crystal-display panels and others, data on fabrication processes such as production number and process conditions are written on each substrate or device in detail, and they are used for quality managements. For this reason, lithography system specialized in code mark printing is developed. However, conventional systems using lamp projection exposure or laser scan exposure are very expensive. Therefore, development of a low-cost exposure system using light emitting diodes (LEDs) and optical fibers with squared ends arrayed in a matrix is strongly expected. In the past research, feasibility of such a new exposure system was demonstrated using a handmade system equipped with 100 LEDs with a central wavelength of 405 nm, a 10×10 matrix of optical fibers with 1 mm square ends, and a 10X projection lens. Based on these progresses, a new method for fabricating large-scale arrays of finer fibers with squared ends was developed in this paper. At most 40 plastic optical fibers were arranged in a linear gap of an arraying instrument, and simultaneously squared by heating them on a hotplate at 120°C for 7 min. Fiber sizes were homogeneous within 496±4 μm. In addition, average light leak was improved from 34.4 to 21.3% by adopting the new method in place of conventional one by one squaring method. Square matrix arrays necessary for printing code marks will be obtained by piling the newly fabricated linear arrays up.

High-power operation of fiber lasers was enabled by the invention of cladding-pumping in a double-clad fiber structure. Because of existence of so called skew rays in the inner clad of the fiber, pump absorption saturates along the fiber and pumping becomes inefficient. First studies of pump absorption efficiency enhancement were focused on fibers with broken circular symmetry of inner cladding eliminating skew rays [1,2]. Later, techniques of unconventional fiber coiling were proposed [3]. However, theoretical studies were limited to the assumption of a straight fiber. Even recently, the rigorous model accounting for fiber bending and twisting was described [4-6]. It was found that bending of the fiber influences modal spectra of the pump radiation and twisting provides quite efficient mode-scrambling. These effects in a synergic manner significantly enhances pump absorption rate in double clad fibers and improves laser system efficiency. In our contribution we review results of numerical modelling of pump absorption in various types of double-clad fibers, e.g., with cross section shape of hexagon, stadium, and circle; two-fiber bundle (so-called GTWave fiber structure) a panda fibers are also analyzed. We investigate pump field modal spectra evolution in hexagonally shaped fiber in straight, bended, and simultaneously bended and twisted fiber which brings new quality to understanding of the mode-scrambling and pump absorption enhancement. Finally, we evaluate the impact of enhanced pump absorption on signal gain in the fiber. These results can have practical impact in construction of fiber lasers: with pump absorption efficiency optimized by our new model (the other models did not take into account fiber twist), the double-clad fiber of shorter length can be used in the fiber lasers and amplifiers. In such a way the harmful influence of background losses and nonlinear effects can be minimized. [1] Doya, V., Legrand, O., Mortessagne, F., “Optimized absorption in a chaotic double-clad fiber amplifier,” Opt. Lett., vol. 26, no. 12, pp. 872-874, (2001). [2] Kouznetsov, D., Moloney, J. V., “Efficiency of pump absorption in double-clad fiber amplifiers. II. Broken circular symmetry,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. B, vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 1259-1263, June 2002. [3] Li, Y., Jackson, S. D., Fleming, S., “High absorption and low splice loss properties of hexagonal double-clad fiber,” IEEE Photonics Technol. Lett., vol 16, no. 11, pp. 2502-2504, Nov. 2004. [4] Koška, P. and Peterka, P., "Numerical analysis of pump propagation and absorption in specially tailored double-clad rare-earth doped fiber," Optical and Quantum Electronics, vol. 47, no. 9, pp. 3181-3191 (2015). [5] Koška, P., Peterka, P., and Doya, V., “Numerical modeling of pump absorption in coiled and twisted double-clad fibers,” IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron., vol. 22, no. 2 (2016). [6] Koška, P., Peterka, P., Aubrecht, J., Podrazký, O., Todorov, F., Becker, M., Baravets, Y., Honzátko, P., and Kašík, I., "Enhanced pump absorption efficiency in coiled and twisted double-clad thulium-doped fibers," Opt. Express, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 102-107 (2016).

We propose a novel 8-channel wavelength demultiplexer based on photonic crystal fiber (PCF) structures that operate at 1530nm, 1535nm, 1540nm, 1545nm, 1550nm, 1555nm, 1560nm and 1565nm wavelengths. The new design is based on replacing some air-holes zones with silicon nitride and lithium niobate materials along the PCF axis with optimization of the PCF size. The reason of using these materials is because that each wavelength has a different value of coupling length. Numerical investigations were carried out on the geometrical parameters by using a beam propagation method (BPM). Simulation results show that the proposed device can transmit 8-channel that works in the whole C-band (1530- 1565nm) with low crosstalk ((-16.88)-(-15.93) dB) and bandwidth (4.02-4.69nm). Thus, the device can be very useful in optical networking systems that work on dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology.

We investigate splitting and self-trapping of the femtosecond pulse by nanorods reshaping front at optical radiation propagation in a medium containing gold nanorods. We take into account multi-photon absorption of laser radiation by nanorods, and time-dependent nanorod aspect ratio changing due to their reshaping. On the basis of computer simulation we demonstrate appearance of slowing down soliton and superluminality effect simultaneously for various sub-pulses which form from incident Gaussian un-chirped pulse. These sub-pulses possess chirp and soliton shape which differs from a classical soliton of Schrödinger equation with cubic nonlinearity.

Three-dimensional light bullets in Kerr media are known to be unstable. Different schemes were proposed to overcome this obstacle. One of them is to use a nonlinear parametric interaction. Such a type of interaction can be achieved in anisotropic micro-dispersive media where space dispersion is of importance. These media allow us to reach a simultaneous approximate fulfillment of group and phase matching. To study the general (3+1)D case we apply both an approximate analytical approach and numerical simulations. We suggest that nonlinear refraction manifests itself earlier than diffraction and dispersion. Both the general (3+1)D case and axial-symmetry case are studied. With the help of averaged Lagrangian method analytical solutions are derived provided that the fixed relation between the negative coefficients of the group velocity dispersion on both harmonics holds. We demonstrate that a spatiotemporal light bullet propagates for at least 300 nonlinear lengths in anisotropic media at second harmonic generation.

The tailoring of the group velocity dispersion (GVD) of an optical fiber is critical in many applications, influence on the bandwidth of information transmission in optical communication systems, successful utilization of nonlinear optical properties in applications such as supercontinuum generation, wavelength conversion and harmonic generation via stimulated Raman scattering ...In this work, we propose a design of ultra-flattened photonic crystal fiber by changing the diameter of the air holes of the cladding rings. The geometry is composed of only four rings, hexagonal structure of air holes and silica as background of the solid core. As a result, we present structures with broadband flat normal dispersion on many wavelengths bands useful for several applications. We obtain flat normal dispersion over 1000 nm broadband flat normal dispersion below -7 [ps/nm.km], and ultra-flat near zero normal dispersion below -0.2 [ps/nm.km] over 150 nm. The modeled photonic crystal fiber would be valuable for the fabrication of ultra-flattened-dispersion fibers, and have potential applications in wide-band high-speed optical communication systems, supercontinuum generation and many other applications.

The generation and amplification at wavelengths longer than 1100 nm is not straightforward when using Yb-doped optical fibers, since light emission of ytterbium occurs preferentially in the region of 1020 nm - 1100 nm with a maximum at 1030 nm. One well known approach is to heat the Yb-doped fiber up to temperatures above 100 °C. This increases the re-absorption in the lower emission band and also enhances at the same time the emission at longer wavelengths. Consequently, heating allows to extend the spectral gain-region of Yb-doped fibers by at least 60 nm up to 1160 nm. However, the drawback of this method is that it results in a shorter durability of the fiber, since heating damages the polymer-coating. Moreover, such a laser has a reduced overall efficiency, due to heating, isolation and heat removal issues. It has been reported, that at the presence of an aluminosilca host (silica doped with Al) efficient laser activity at around 1150 nm can be achieved by heating the Yb-doped fiber to only 60 °C. In this work we investigate the spectroscopy of a heated Yb-doped fiber with a high aluminum concentration. The fiber is drawn in our in-house fiber drawing tower. The preforms are produced by the sol-gel-based granulated silica method which allows us to vary the aluminum as well as the ytterbium concentrations within a large range. The fiber is investigated with respect to their spectroscopic data as well as their lasing performance.

Endlessly single-mode fibers, which enable single mode guidance over a wide spectral range, are indispensable in the field of fiber technology. A two-dimensional photonic crystal with a silica central core and a micrometer-spaced hexagonal array of air holes is an established method to achieve endless single-mode guidance. There are two possible ways to determine the dispersion: measurement and calculation. We calculate the group velocity dispersion GVD based on the measurement of the fiber structure parameters, the hole diameter and the pitch of a presumed homogeneous hexagonal array and compare the calculation with two methods to measure the wavelength-dependent time delay. We measure the time delay on a three hundred meter test fiber with a homemade supercontinuum light source, a set of bandpass filters and a fast detector and compare the results with a white light interferometric setup. To measure the dispersion of optical fibers with high accuracy, a time-frequency-domain setup based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer is used. The experimental setup allows the determination of the wavelength dependent differential group delay of light travelling through a thirty centimeter piece of test fiber in the wavelength range from VIS to NIR. The determination of the GVD using different methods enables the evaluation of the individual methods for characterizing the endlessly single-mode fiber.

We developed an experimental setup for the determination of the differential mode delay (DMD) in fibers. This unique method of measurement is the basis for the characterization of specialty fibers including properties such as the chromatic dispersion, the fiber geometry and the DMD. These fibers have their application in the nearinfrared and mid-infrared regime. Examples of uses of such fibers are supercontinuum light sources and high power lasers. Different modifications of these multimode fibers are applicable in extreme environments or for standard beam delivery over long distances. The exact knowledge of parameters such as the DMD is necessary to generate light sources with ether high energy, high intensity or high power or to analyze transmitted information when the fiber is used in a configuration for communication.

For the most precise measurement of DMD, we investigated a new type of method. It is capable of measuring the modal dispersion in two different ways. The first way is the standard transversal measurement, where the launching condition is altered by moving the radial position of the injected pulse while maintaining a zero-angle launching condition. The second way involves changing the launching angle into the fiber. This is done to get the most precise value for the DMD. Also, using a supercontinuum light source for the injection pulse, it is possible to vary the wavelength to be able to measure near the zero dispersion wavelength in order to investigate the effects of the chromatic dispersion.

In this paper, we present a study aimed at characterizing the optimal fiber optic components for Brillouin sensing in multimode fibers. For this purpose the use of single-mode and multimode circulators as well as couplers typically used in the Brillouin measurement setups was investigated. On the one hand the undesired coupling losses between conventional fiber optic measurement system components and a multimode sensor fiber can be overcome by replacing the singlemode components with their own multimode equivalents. On the other hand the use of multimode fiber optic circulators and multimode couplers affects the mode distribution of laser light which can impair the measurement signal backscattered in the multimode sensor fibers. In view of an increasing interest in high strain measurements using polymer optical fibers (POFs) as Brillouin-distributed sensors the investigation on Brillouin scattering effects in multimode fibers (MMFs) was performed on a low-loss perfluorinated graded-index polymer optical fiber (PFGI-POF). The obtained results were compared with those of a standard graded-index multimode (GI-MMF) silica glass optical fiber (GOF). This study confirms the relevance of the adaptation of the measurement system components to the use of the multimode sensor fibers. In addition, due to mode coupling effects occurring in the tested POF itself, the results show differences in the yield of the components adaptation in the sensory implementation of the two kinds of the tested optical fibers.

We report chirped fiber Bragg gratings (CFBGs) photo-inscribed in undoped PMMA polymer optical fibre (POF) for the first time. The chirped polymer optical fiber Bragg gratings (CPOFBGs) were inscribed using an UV KrF excimer laser operating at 248 nm. The rectangular gauss laser beam was expanded to 25 mm in horizontal direction along the fiber core by a cylindrical lens, giving a total of 25 mm grating length. A 25 mm long chirped phase mask chosen for 1550 nm grating inscription was used. The laser frequency was 1 Hz with an energy of 5 mJ per exposure, exposing few pulses for each grating inscription. The reflection amplitude spectrum evolution of a CPOFBG is investigated as a function of the applied strain and temperature. Also, some results regarding to group delay are collected and discussed. These results pave the way to further developments in different fields, where POFs could present some advantages preferably replacing their silica counterparts.

The authors focused on the problems of measurement of attenuation and homogeneity of special fibers of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) depending on three different procedures for mixing PDMS and curing agent. We used a two-component elastomer Sylgard 184. For mixing was used a defined ratio of 10:1 for PDMS, which was determined based on the datasheet. Curing of samples took place in a heat box at a constant temperature of 80 °C ± 3 °C. Three procedures were defined for mixing PDMS and curing agent: manual, using a laboratory shaker and ultrasonic baths. For each method of mixing was carried out a total of 25 samples. The test samples have a defined shape in the form of a cylindrical waveguide with a diameter of 5 mm and a length of 50 mm. The whole process of production of cylindrical waveguides applied in the protective vacuum box. To verify the homogeneity of the samples were divided into 5 mm sections, measured was the attenuation constant in both directions. As a source of radiation was used LED (Light Emitting Diode) with a wavelength of 470 nm. The outcome of this study is the evaluation of the quality waveguides by the size of the total attenuation and the attenuation constant for analysis of spreading out in homogeneities depending on the procedure of mixing PDMS and curing agent. The analysis performed with regarding the use of PDMS for its optical properties.

White light is produced by a suitable combination of spectral components RGB (colors) or through exposure excitation of blue light (the blue component of light). This blue part of the light is partly and suitably transformed by luminophore so that the resulting emitted spectrum corresponded to the spectral characteristics of white light with a given correlated color temperature (CCT). This paper deals with the measurement of optical properties of a mixture polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and luminophore, which is irradiated by the blue LED (Light-Emitting Diode) to obtain the white color of light. The subject of the investigation is the dependence of CCT on the concentration of the luminophore in a mixture of PDMS and different geometrical parameters of the samples. There are many kinds of PDMS and luminophore. We used PDMS Sylgard 184 and luminophore-labeled U2. More accurately Yttrium Aluminium Oxide: Cerium Y₃Al₅O₁₂: Ce. From the analyzed data, we determined, which mutual combinations of concentration of the mixture of luminophore and PDMS together with the geometric parameters of the samples of the special optical fibers are suitable for illumination, while we get the desired CCT.

The generation of linear photonic nanojet using core-shell optical microfiber is demonstrated numerically and experimentally in the visible light region. The power flow patterns for the core-shell optical microfiber are calculated by using the finite-difference time-domain method. The focusing properties of linear photonic nanojet are evaluated in terms of length and width along propagation and transversal directions. In experiment, the silica optical fiber is etched chemically down to 6 μm diameter and coated with metallic thin film by using glancing angle deposition. We show that the linear photonic nanojet is enhanced clearly by metallic shell due to surface plasmon polaritons. The large-area superresolution imaging can be performed by using a core-shell optical microfiber in the far-field system. The potential applications of this core-shell optical microfiber include micro-fluidics and nano-structure measurements.

Optical connectivity has the potential to outperform copper-based TSVs in terms of bandwidth at the cost of more complexity due to the required electro-optical and opto-electrical conversion. The continuously increasing demand for higher bandwidth pushes the breakeven point for a profitable operation to shorter distances. To integrate an optical communication network in a 3D-chip-stack optical through-silicon vertical VIAs (TSV) are required. While the necessary effort for the electrical/optical and vice versa conversion makes it hard to envision an on-chip optical interconnect, a chip-to-chip optical link appears practicable. In general, the interposer offers the potential advantage to realize electro-optical transceivers on affordable expense by specific, but not necessarily CMOS technology. We investigated the realization and characterization of optical interconnects as a polymer based waveguide in high aspect ratio (HAR) TSVs proved on waferlevel.

To guide the optical field inside a TSV as optical-waveguide or fiber, its core has to have a higher refractive index than the surrounding material. Comparing different material / technology options it turned out that thermal grown silicon dioxide (SiO₂) is a perfect candidate for the cladding (n_SiO2 = 1.4525 at 850 nm). In combination with SiO₂ as the adjacent polymer layer, the negative resist SU-8 is very well suited as waveguide material (n_SU-8 = 1.56) for the core. Here, we present the fabrication of an optical polymer based multimode waveguide in TSVs proved on waferlevel using SU-8 as core and SiO₂ as cladding. The process resulted in a defect-free filling of waveguide TSVs with SU-8 core and SiO₂ cladding up to aspect ratio (AR) 20:1 and losses less than 3 dB.

We investigated behaviours of 1D binary diffraction gratings fabricated on optical fiber facets. Only sub-wavelength structures were considered to suppress higher diffraction orders. The aperiodic rigorous coupled wave analysis, the Fourier modal method and the finite-difference time-domain numerical methods were used to compute and optimize the modal reflectance of the investigated structures. Optimized gratings were milled on fiber facets by focused ion beam. One of the gratings was tested in a thulium-doped fiber laser where it acted as a low re ectivity polarizing output mirror. A slope efficiency of the laser and a beam quality parameter were conserved while lasing threshold slightly increased.