Ultra-low-loss optical fiber nanotapers
Optics Express, Vol. 12, Issue 10, pp. 2258-2263 (2004)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OPEX.12.002258
Enhanced HTML 
Acrobat PDF (219 KB)
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
OCIS Codes
(060.2280) Fiber optics and optical communications : Fiber design and fabrication
(060.2310) Fiber optics and optical communications : Fiber optics
(220.4610) Optical design and fabrication : Optical fabrication
(350.5500) Other areas of optics : Propagation
ToC Category:
Research Papers
History
Original Manuscript: March 22, 2004
Revised Manuscript: April 22, 2004
Published: May 17, 2004
Citation
Gilberto Brambilla, Vittoria Finazzi, and David Richardson, "Ultra-low-loss optical fiber nanotapers," Opt. Express 12, 2258-2263 (2004)
http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-12-10-2258
Sort: Journal | Reset
References
- K. Nagayama, K. Kakui, M. Matsui, T. Saitoh, and Y. Chigusa, �??Ultra-low-loss (0.1484 dB/km) pure silica core fiber and extension of transmission distance,�?? Electron Lett. 38, 1168-1169 (2002). [CrossRef]
- L.C. Bobb, and P.M. Shankar, �??Tapered Optical Fiber Components and Sensors,�?? Microwave J., 218-228 (May 1992).
- H. Murata, Handbook of Optical Fibers and Cables 2nd ed. (Marcel Dekker, New York, 1996).
- D. K. Mynbaev, and L.L. Scheiner, Fiber-Optic Communications Technology (Prentice Hall, New York, (2001).
- T.A. Birks, W.J. Wadsworth, and P. St. J. Russell, �??Supercontinuum generation in tapered fibers,�?? Opt. Lett. 25, 1415-1417 (2000). [CrossRef]
- L. Tong, R. R. Gattass, J. B. Ashcom, S. He, J. Lou, M. Shen, I. Maxwell, and E. Mazur, �??Subwavelength-diameter silica wires for low-loss optical wave guiding,�?? Nature 426, 816-818 (2003). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Z. L. Wang, R. P. P. Gao, J. L. Gole, and J. D. Stout, �??Silica nanotubes and nanofiber arrays,�?? Adv. Mater. 12, 1938�??1940 (2000). [CrossRef]
- Z. W. Pan, Z. R. Dai, C. Ma, and Z. L. Wang, �??Molten gallium as a catalyst for the large-scale growth of highly aligned silica nanowires,�?? J. Am. Chem. Soc. 124, 1817�??1822 (2002). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- J. Q. Hu, X. M. Meng, Y. Jiang, C. S. Lee, and S.T. Lee, �??Fabrication of germanium-filled silica nanotubes and aligned silica nanofibers,�?? Adv. Mater. 15, 70�??73 (2003). [CrossRef]
- J. Bures, and R. Ghosh, �??Power density of the evanescent field in the vicinity of a tapered fiber,�?? J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 16, 1992-1996 (1999). [CrossRef]
- F. Bilodeau, K. 0. Hill, D. C. Johnson, and S. Faucher, �??Compact, low-loss, fused biconical taper couplers: overcoupled operation and antisymmetric supermode cutoff,�?? Opt. Lett. 12, 634-636 (1987). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- D. Marcuse, and R. M. Derosier, �??Mode conversion caused by diameter changes of a round dielectric waveguide," Bell Syst. Tech. J. 48, 3217�??3232 (1969).
- F. Ladouceur, �??Roughness, Inhomogeneity, and integrated optics,�?? J. Lightwave Technol. 15, 1020�??1025 (1997). [CrossRef]
- T.A. Birks, and Y.W. Li, �??The shape of fiber tapers,�?? J. Lightwave Technol. 10, 432-438 (1992). [CrossRef]
- J.M. Senior, Optical fiber communications, Principles and Practice (Prentice Hall Europe, 1992)
- S. Lacroix, R. Bourbommais, F. Gonthier, and J. Bures, �??Tapered monomode optical fibers: understanding large power transfer,�?? Applied Optics 25, 4421-4425 (1986). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- J.D. Love, �??Spot size, adiabaticity and diffraction in tapered fibers,�?? Electron. Lett. 23, 993-994 (1987). [CrossRef]
- A.W. Snyder, and J.D. Love, Optical waveguide theory (Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwell, 2000).
- K. Okamoto, Fundamentals of optical waveguides (Academic Press, San Diego, 2000).
Cited By |
 Alert me when this paper is cited |
OSA is able to provide readers links to articles that cite this paper by participating in CrossRef's Cited-By Linking service. CrossRef includes content from more than 3000 publishers and societies. In addition to listing OSA journal articles that cite this paper, citing articles from other participating publishers will also be listed.
Related Journal Articles 
- Reflectivity properties of an abruptly ended asymmetrical slab waveguide for the case of transverse magnetic modes (JOSAA)
- Nonparaxial propagation of a cylindrical beam with Lanczos reduction (OL)
- Corrections to the paraxial approximation solutions in transversely nonuniform refractive-index media (JOSAA)
- Effects of lateral load and external twist on polarization-mode dispersion of spun and unspun fibers (OL)
- Small-focus integral fiber lenses: modeling with the segmented beam-propagation method and near-field characterization (AO)
Related Conference Papers
- Splice-less interfacing of conventional fibers to photonic crystal fibers
- Applications of microstructured polymer optical fibres
- Efficient Supercontinuum Generation in a Ultra Compact Silica Highly Nonlinear Fiber
- Hollow-Core Radially-Chirped Bragg Fiber for Quasi-Metallic Photonic Bandgap Light Confinement
- High-quality microstructure glass and metal-glass fibers
« Previous Article | Next Article »
OSA is a member of 