Breakthrough in nanoscale fiber research: new optical waveguide sensors can be developed

Recently, experts from University of Science and Technology of China cooperated with experts from University of Maryland Medical School and Southwest University of Science and Technology to propose a new optical mode, one-dimensional Bloch surface existing in multilayer dielectric film and nano-fiber composite structure Wave and using this mode to successfully solve the technical problem that the ultrafine polymer nano fiber can not transmit the optical signal on the conventional substrate. It is well known that the tremendous achievements of micrometer-scale optical fibers have resulted in the highly developed Internet industry and the rapid "miniaturization" of the world. Therefore, the basic theory of micro-fiber won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics. Today, nanoscale optical fiber has become a hot research topic at the international frontier. Due to its good mechanical properties, especially its flexibility and flexibility, polymer nanofibers can be chemically modified to change the characteristics of their materials. This is one of the first choices for constructing ultra-compact photonic devices and miniaturizing integrated photonic circuits. However, its material flexibility, large aspect ratio, must be placed on the substrate, such as glass or silicon commonly used in order to truly practical, the development of new nano-optical waveguide sensor devices, and when the nano-fiber radius is small, such as less than 125nm When placed on the glass of nano-fiber will not be able to transmit optical signals. In order to solve this problem, the research team used the structural parameters to design multi-layer dielectric thin film to support the polymer nanofiber. With the photonic bandgap of multi-layer thin film, the optical signal leakage in the nanofiber was prevented. Experimental results show that ultrathin nanofibers can transmit optical signals completely in this multilayer dielectric film. According to reports, the research work has been supported by funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Collaborative Innovation Center for Energy and Chemistry, and the Outstanding Youth Fund of Anhui Province. Related sample production process has been the University of Science and Technology of China Micro and nano research and manufacturing center of equipment and technical support.