Efficient fiber-optical interface for nanophotonic devices

Citation

Tiecke, T. G., Nayak, K. P., Thompson, J. D., Peyronel, T., de Leon, N. P., Vuletić, V., & Lukin, M. D. (2008). Efficient fiber-optical interface for nanophotonic devices. arXiv.

Keywords

• Fiber-optical interface
• Nanophotonic devices
• Single-mode optical fiber
• Conical tapered optical fibers
• Adiabatic mode transfer
• Coupling efficiencies
• Nanophotonic waveguide
• Integrated nanophotonic circuits
• Quantum optical applications
• Nanoscale sensing applications

Brief

A novel method uses single-sided, conically tapered optical fibers to efficiently couple guided light from a single-mode optical fiber to nanophotonic devices. This method achieves single-mode fiber-waveguide coupling efficiencies as high as 97(1)% by using adiabatic mode transfer with a properly chosen taper.

Summary

This article outlines a method for efficiently coupling light from a single-mode optical fiber to nanophotonic devices. The technique uses single-sided, conically tapered optical fibers that are evanescently coupled to a nanophotonic waveguide over approximately the last 10µm. A key advantage of this single-sided approach, in contrast to existing biconical tapered fibers, is that it offers more versatility in design and allows for greater mechanical support for the nanophotonic devices.
Through adiabatic mode transfer, the authors achieve a single-mode fiber-waveguide coupling efficiency as high as 97(1)%. This highly efficient coupling is crucial for applications like quantum repeaters and quantum networks, where performance is greatly affected by photon loss between nodes. Additionally, it allows for the distribution of non-classical states of light that are very susceptible to being destroyed by photon loss.
The authors detail the design principles of their method and demonstrate its effectiveness through simulations and experimental measurements. They were able to achieve coupling efficiencies of 95% or greater for a range of waveguide geometries. The authors also note that the requirements for cleanliness during fabrication are less stringent compared to those of biconical tapered fibers because the fiber tips in their design have sub-wavelength dimensions over only about 10µm.
The article concludes by highlighting the potential of this method for various applications.
Specifically, the authors suggest it may be particularly useful for creating highly non-classical Schrödinger cat states of light, as well as building scalable quantum networks and nanoscale biosensing devices.

Origin: https://www.semanticscholar.org/reader/e622ba336ee85928bb9693ac15d6a8f89ca1c5c5