Abstract

Optical fiber tapers with a waist size larger than 1μm are commonplace in telecommunications and sensor applications. However the fabrication of low-loss optical fiber tapers with subwavelength diameters was previously thought to be impractical due to difficulties associated with control of the surface roughness and diameter uniformity. In this paper we show that very-long ultra-low-loss tapers can in fact be produced using a conventional fiber taper rig incorporating a simple burner configuration. For single-mode operation, the optical losses we achieve at 1.55μm are one order of magnitude lower than losses previously reported in the literature for tapers of a similar size. SEM images confirm excellent taper uniformity. We believe that these low-loss structures should pave the way to a whole range of fiber nanodevices.

©2004 Optical Society of America

Microstructured optical fiber photonic wires with subwavelength core diameter

Yannick K. Lizé, Eric C. Mägi, Vahid G. Ta’eed, Jeremy A. Bolger, Paul Steinvurzel, and Benjamin J. Eggleton
Opt. Express 12(14) 3209-3217 (2004)

Fabrication of submicron-diameter silica fibers using electric strip heater

Lei Shi, Xianfeng Chen, Hongjuan Liu, Yuping Chen, Zhiqing Ye, Weijun Liao, and Yuxing Xia
Opt. Express 14(12) 5055-5060 (2006)

Ultra-low-loss tapered optical fibers with minimal lengths

Ryutaro Nagai and Takao Aoki
Opt. Express 22(23) 28427-28436 (2014)

Low-loss deposition of solgel-derived silica films on tapered fibers

G. Kakarantzas, S. G. Leon-Saval, T. A. Birks, and P. St. J. Russell
Opt. Lett. 29(7) 694-696 (2004)

Design and development of a trenched optical fiber with ultra-low bending loss

Pramod R. Watekar, Seongmin Ju, and Won-Taek Han
Opt. Express 17(12) 10350-10363 (2009)