“Meta”-Optical Fibers—Integration of Metaphotonics with Fiber Optics

Optical fiber is a well-established and efficient light-guiding medium. Although optical fiber is efficient for transmitting light, its functionality is limited by the dielectric material of the core, which has poor optoelectronic, magneto-optical, and nonlinear-optical responses and has a dielectric diffraction limit. Therefore, the optical properties of the optical fiber such as phase, amplitude, polarization, and mode profile, cannot be altered after the fiber drawing fabrication, thus limiting the development of novel in-fiber devices. Integration of new materials and nanostructures into fiber will enhance processing/transmission capabilities and novel functionalities.<br/><br/>In this talk, I will present our recent development of “Meta”-optical fiber, an advanced optical fiber integrated with emerging nanophotonic concepts such as optical metasurfaces, plasmonic nanowires, and zero-index photonics. I will present the development of ultrathin optical metalens which is cascaded on the facet of a photonic crystal fiber that enables light focusing. I will also discuss the first experimental demonstration of zero-index resonance excitation in an optical fiber coated with AZO nanolayer and excitation of plasmonic resonances on holey optical fiber for advanced optical sensing and tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. These advanced “meta”-optical fibers open a pathway to revolutionary in-fiber lasers/spectroscopies, optical imaging/sensing, and optical communication devices.