title: Light confinement within nanoholes in nanostructured optical fibers.
abstract: We report fabrication of the lead silicate microstructured fibers (MOFs) with core holes as small as 20 nm, the smallest holes fabricated within the core of an optical fiber to date. We show that light confinement and average mode intensity within such holes are strongly dependent on the hole size. Light confinement within 80 nm and 250 nm core hole within the fabricated MOFs has been experimentally characterized using Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (SNOM).
authors.affiliation: Institute of Photonics & Advanced Sensing, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia. yinlan.ruan@adelaide.edu.au
authors.forename: Yinlan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ruan
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ebendorff-Heidepriem
authors.forename: Shahraam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Afshar
authors.forename: Tanya M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Monro
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008027:Light; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D055100:Optical Fibers; D016062:Porosity; D012542:Scattering, Radiation