Optical nanofibers and spectroscopy

Abstract

We review our recent progress in the production and characterization of tapered optical fibers with a sub-wavelength diameter waist. Such fibers exhibit a pronounced evanescent field and are therefore a useful tool for highly sensitive evanescent wave spectroscopy of adsorbates on the fiber waist or of the medium surrounding. We use a carefully designed flame pulling process that allows us to realize preset fiber diameter profiles. In order to determine the waist diameter and to verify the fiber profile, we employ scanning electron microscope measurements and a novel accurate in situ optical method based on harmonic generation. We use our fibers for linear and non-linear absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy of surface-adsorbed organic molecules and investigate their agglomeration dynamics. Furthermore, we apply our spectroscopic method to quantum dots on the surface of the fiber waist and to caesium vapor surrounding the fiber. Finally, towards dispersive measurements, we present our first results on building and testing a single-fiber bi-modal interferometer.

13 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in Applied Physics B. Changes according to referee suggestions: changed title, clarification of some points in the text, added references, replacement of Figure 13a

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• Optical interface created by laser-cooled atoms trapped in the evanescent field surrounding an optical nanofiber
• Cold Atom Physics Using Ultra-Thin Optical Fibers: Light-Induced Dipole Forces and Surface Interactions
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Cited by in corpus (13)

• Ultrahigh Transmission Optical Nanofibers
• Optical Nanofibers: a new platform for quantum optics
• Ultra-low-loss tapered optical fibers with minimal lengths
• Nanofiber Fabry-Perot microresonator for non-linear optics and cavity quantum electrodynamics
• Rayleigh scattering in an optical nanofiber as a probe of higher-order mode propagation
• Photon-correlation measurements of atomic-cloud temperature using an optical nanofiber
• Optical-nanofiber-based interface for single molecules
• Coupling a thermal atomic vapor to an integrated ring resonator
• Ladder-type electromagnetically induced transparency using nanofiber-guided light in a warm atomic vapor
• Heater self-calibration technique for shape prediction of fiber tapers
• Non-destructive profilometry of optical nanofibres
• Integrating two-photon nonlinear spectroscopy of rubidium atoms with silicon photonics
• Tunable Order of Helically Confined Charges