Nonlinear optics
How much continuous laser power can a nanofibre carry?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
A silica fibre thinner than a wavelength of light carried 13 watts of steady laser power while losing only a small fraction of it, far more than previously shown.
Study at a glance
- Design
- Other — Laboratory optics experiment on taper-drawn silica micro/nanofibres driven by an amplified 1552-nm continuous-wave laser, plus a finite-element thermal model.
- N
- No sample count; results come from individual fabricated fibres (e.g., a 1.2-µm fibre for heating, a 779-nm fibre for harmonic generation).
- Population
- Silica micro/nanofibres drawn from standard single-mode telecom fibre
- Outcome
- Transmittance versus guided power, temperature rise and extrapolated damage threshold, optomechanical particle motion, and harmonic-generation efficiency
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Key findings
Transmittance stayed above 95% up to 13 W, over 30 times the previous record, with no hysteresis and no degradation over more than 10 hours of operation. The thermal model predicted optical damage at roughly 70 W, when the fibre would reach about 1100 °C. An oil droplet began sliding at about 0.04 W and reached 2.1 mm/s at 2.2 W. Harmonic power scaled as the cube (third harmonic) and square (second harmonic) of pump power, with continuous-wave conversion efficiencies of 4.9 × 10^-6 and 8.2 × 10^-8.
Methodology
The team tapered standard telecom fibre down to micro/nanofibres (as thin as 410 nm) in a cleanroom and sealed them in nitrogen. They sent up to 13 W of 1552-nm continuous-wave light through them and measured output power, scattering and long-term stability. They measured heating by tying a fibre into a knot resonator and tracking its resonance shift, then used a thermal model to extrapolate a damage threshold. They also used the strong guided field to push droplets and microspheres in air and to generate second and third harmonics.
Limitations
The 70 W damage threshold is an extrapolation from a thermal model, not a measured failure, because the available amplifier topped out below 15 W. The model ignores convective cooling in air and assumes a constant absorption coefficient, so the real threshold is uncertain. The fibres' defect absorption is much higher than bulk silica, and results come from a handful of individual fibres rather than a statistical sample. Harmonic conversion efficiencies, while notable for continuous-wave light, remain very small in absolute terms.
How this study connects
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