Deposition of electronic and plasmonic materials inside microstructured optical fibres

Abstract

Optical fibres are the transport medium of today's digital information. Nowadays, modern optical telecommunication systems make use of semiconductor optoelectronic devices to generate, control and detect light. The union of the two technologies, namely fibre photonics and semiconductor electronics is expected to have a major impact on next generation of optoelectronic devices, exploiting both the guiding capabilities of optical fibres and the signal processing properties of semiconductors devices. Only recently, with the advent of microstructured optical fibres and templating material processing methods, it has been possible to create optical fibres with solid-state material inclusions. An experimental investigation on the optical transmission properties of microstructured optical fibres impregnated with silver nanoparticles is also presented. These fibres are shown to be an excellent way of coupling optical guided modes into surface plasmons. As a result, they represent a promising platform technology for fully integrated photonic/plasmonic devices. These fibres have demonstrated the enhancement of Raman signals from molecules adsorbed onto the inner metal surfaces and thus ideally suited for Surface Enhance Raman Scattering molecular detection