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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Novel applications of monomode fiber tapers

Frank P. Payne, Harry S. MacKenzie

Published Sep 1, 1991• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Adiabatically tapered single-mode fibers provide a novel and effective method of gaining access to the optical field inside an optical fiber. The fabrication of low-loss tapered fibers with waist diameters of less than one micron is described. By surrounding a tapered fiber with laser-dye solution, compact very efficient amplifiers, saturable absorbers, and super- fluorescent sources have been demonstrated.

DOI
10.1117/12.46980

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Frontiers in Optics•Jan 1, 2010•14 citations
Adiabatically tapered single-mode fibers provide a novel and effective method of gaining access to the optical field inside an optical fiber. The fabrication of low-loss tapered fibers with waist diameters of less than one micron is described. By surrounding a tapered fiber with laser-dye solution, compact very efficient amplifiers, saturable absorbers, and super- fluorescent sources have been demonstrated.
Optical micro- and nanofibers have recently gained popularity as tools in quantum engineering using laser-cooled, neutral atoms. In particular, atoms can be trapped around such optical fibers, and photons coupled into the fibers from the surrounding atoms could be used to transfer quantum state information within the system. It has also been demonstrated that such fibers can be used to manipulate and trap silica and polystyrene particles in the 1-3 μm range. We recently proposed using a focused ion beam nanostructured tapered optical fiber for improved atom trapping geometries1. Here, we present details on the design and fabrication of these nanostructured optical fibers and their integration into particle trapping platforms for the demonstration of submicron particle trapping. The optical fibers are tapered to approximately 1-2 μm waist diameters, using a custom-built, heat-and-pull fiber rig, prior to processing using a focused ion beam. Slots of about 300 nm in width and 10-20 μm in length are milled right though the waist regions of the tapered optical fibers. Details on the fabrication steeps necessary to ensure high optical transmission though the fiber post processing are included. Fiber transmissions of over 80% over a broad range of wavelengths, in the 700-11100 nm range, are attainable. We also present simulation results on the impact of varying the slot parameters on the trap depths achievable and milling multiple traps within a single tapered fiber. This work demonstrates even further the functionality of optical micro- and nanofibers as trapping devices across a range of regimes.
We investigate taper tapping in three types of single-mode fibers using simulations and experiments: Standard single-mode fiber (SMF), bend-resistant single-mode fiber (BR-SMF) with a shallow index trench, and bend-insensitive single-mode fiber (BI-SMF) with a deep index trench. Both trench-assisted fibers demonstrate a larger mode field expansion than the standard single-mode fiber, making them more susceptible to taper-tapping than standard single-mode fibers. Tapering both SSMF and BR-SMF fibers to as little as25 μm\mathrm {25~\mu m}25 μmdiameter results in a high information extraction efficiency for an eavesdropper (≥−20 dB\mathrm {\geq -20~dB}≥−20 dB) while maintaining low loss for the legitimate channel (≤1 dB\mathrm {\leq 1~dB}≤1 dB), underlining the vulnerability of all fiber types to taper tapping. We also use optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR) to identify changes in the fiber before and after tapering. Changes in the back reflected power of≤0.5 dB\mathrm {\leq 0.5~dB}≤0.5 dBand≤0.25 dB\mathrm {\leq 0.25~dB}≤0.25 dBare observed in25 μm\mathrm {25~\mu m}25 μmtapers in SMF and BR-SMF respectively.