Complete polarization control for a nanofiber waveguide using directional coupling

Optical nanofiber waveguides are widely used for near-field delivery and measurement of light. Despite their versatility and efficiency, nanofibers have a critical drawback - their inability to maintain light's polarization state on propagation. Here, we design a directional coupler consisting of two crossed nanofibers to probe the polarization state at the waist region. Directionality of coupling occurs due to asymmetric dipolar emission or spin-locking when the evanescent field pattern breaks the mirror symmetry of the crossed-nanofiber system. We demonstrate that, by monitoring the outputs from the directional coupler, two non-orthogonal polarization states can be prepared at the nanofiber waist with a fidelity higher than 99%. Based on these states, we devise a simple and reliable method for complete control of the polarization along a nanofiber waveguide.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

Polarisation control for optical nanofibres by imaging through a single lens

We present a simple method for controlling the polarisation state of light at the waist of a single-mode optical nanofibre. The method consists of complete polarisation compensation based on imaging scattered light from inherent inhomogeneities both on the fibre surface and in the glass material itself. In contrast to the recently reported protocol exploiting two imaging systems oriented at 45 degrees to each other, our method requires only one lens and a video camera. It is particularly useful for nanofibre-based applications with severe geometric constraints, such as inside vacuum chambers for experiments with cold atoms. The measured fidelity of the achieved control is about 98\% using lenses with moderate numerical apertures

Evanescent field trapping and propulsion of Janus particles along optical nanofibers

Small composite objects, known as Janus particles, drive sustained scientific interest primarily targeted at biomedical applications, where such objects act as micro- or nanoscale actuators, carriers, or imaging agents. A major practical challenge is to develop effective methods for the manipulation of Janus particles. The available long-range methods mostly rely on chemical reactions or thermal gradients, therefore having limited precision and strong dependency on the content and properties of the carrier fluid. To tackle these limitations, we propose the manipulation of Janus particles (here, silica microspheres half-coated with gold) by optical forces in the evanescent field of an optical nanofiber. We find that Janus particles exhibit strong transverse localization on the nanofiber and much faster propulsion compared to all-dielectric particles of the same size. These results establish the effectiveness of near-field geometries for optical manipulation of composite particles, where new waveguide-based or plasmonic solutions could be envisaged.journal articl

Is it possible to create a perfect fractional vortex beam?

Laguerre-Gaussian beams of integer azimuthal index satisfy the fundamental principle of quantization of orbital angular momentum. Here, we consider light-induced orbiting of a trapped microparticle as a probe of the local orbital angular momentum density in both integer- and fractional-index perfect vortex beams. Simulations suggest that the distribution and the corresponding light-induced motion of the particle, may be uniform in beams with integer azimuthal index but fundamentally this cannot be achieved in beams with fractional index. We experimentally verify these predictions by light-induced trapping and rotation of individual microparticles in fractional index beams where we distribute the phase dislocations around the annular profile.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Enhanced Directional Coupling of Light with a Whispering Gallery Microcavity

Directional coupling of light in nanophotonic circuits has recently attracted increasing interest, with numerous experimental realizations based on broken rotational or mirror symmetries of the light–matter system. The most prominent underlying effect is the spin–orbit interaction of light in subwavelength structures. Unfortunately, coupling of light to such structures is, in general, very inefficient. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate an order of magnitude enhancement of the directional coupling between two nanowaveguides by means of a whispering gallery microcavity. We also show that both transverse magnetic and transverse electric modes can be used for the enhancement

Light-induced rotation of dielectric microparticles around an optical nanofiber

Evanescent electromagnetic fields near a waveguide can exert a transverse radiation force on scattering objects. To prove this experimentally, we demonstrate light-induced orbiting of isotropic, dielectric microparticles around an optical nanofiber that guides elliptically polarized, fundamental modes. The orbit frequency is proportional to the helicity of the coupled light. Interestingly, the observed motion is opposite to the energy flow circulation around the fiber. This result verifies the theoretically predicted negative optical torque on a sufficiently large particle in the vicinity of a nanofiber

Ultrathin Optical Fibers : Guided Modes, Angular Momentum, and Applications

Ultrathin optical fibers have emerged as efficient and versatile platforms for studying light-matter interactions. Owing to their geometry, they are characterized by intense evanescent fields extending beyond the fiber surface. These fields can carry both spin and orbital angular momentum of guided light. Complex spatial intensity, phase, and polarization profiles can be generated at the fiber waist by propagating higher order fiber modes. In this paper, we review applications of ultrathin optical fibers, with an emphasis on optical manipulation at the micro-and nanoscale. We also discuss mode content and angular momentum of light guided by ultrathin fibers

Spin selection rule for {\it S} level transitions in atomic rubidium under paraxial and nonparaxial two-photon excitation

We report on an experimental test of the spin selection rule for two-photon transitions in atoms. In particular, we demonstrate that the $5S_{1/2}\to 6S_{1/2}$ transition rate in a rubidium gas follows a quadratic dependency on the helicity parameter linked to the polarization of the excitation light. For excitation via a single Gaussian beam or two counterpropagating beams in a hot vapor cell, the transition rate scales as the squared degree of linear polarization. The rate reaches zero when the light is circularly polarized. In contrast, when the excitation is realized via an evanescent field near an optical nanofiber, the two-photon transition cannot be completely extinguished (theoretically, not lower than 13\% of the maximum rate, under our experimental conditions) by only varying the polarization of the fiber-guided light. Our findings lead to a deeper understanding of the physics of multiphoton processes in atoms in strongly nonparaxial light