The standardization of the optical fibre output of individual components already simplifies their insertion in allfibre system and their maintenance. We propose to push further this simplification by developing a diversity of passive and active components on a single platform: a tapered optical nanofibre.
Nanofibres are produced by pulling heated optical fibres, typically telecom fibres, down to diameters of a few hundred nanometres. This pulling technique results in a nanofibre linked to the un-stretched sections of the original fibre by two tapered sections. During its propagation in these tapers, the mode guided by the core of the initial un-tapered fibre is adiabatically transformed into a mode guided inside the nanofibre section.
This nanofibre platform can be functionalized by embedding the nanofibre in various materials, leading to a full range of devices. In this project we propose to validate this approach, starting from the improvement of the nanofibre pulling machine, their encapsulation for protection and easy handling, their functionalization with non-linear materials until the demonstration of reliable components selected for their high technical requirements in a large diversity of domains.
To address all the problematics of this project, we gathered the expertises of our three teams, LCF, FEMTO-ST and Thales-TRT.
This project is funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR)
in the frame of its generic program under grant number ANR-16-CE24-0010.