Nano Optical Fiber Technology – 1,000 Times Smaller than a Grain of Sand – Could lead to Faster Internet Speeds

Swedish researchers have innovated 3D printing by using silica glass micro-optics on optical fibers, resulting in faster internet, improved sensors, and advanced imaging systems, while avoiding high-temperature damage to fiber coatings. This technique could revolutionize remote sensing, pharmaceuticals, and photonics.

Swedish researchers have made a breakthrough in communications by successfully 3D printing silica glass micro-optics onto optical fiber tips, which is as small as the cross-section of a human hair. This could lead to faster internet speeds, improved connectivity, and the development of smaller sensors and imaging systems. The research, published in the journal ACS Nano, aims to explore various possibilities, including more sensitive remote sensors for the environment and healthcare.

The method has overcome the limitations of using silica glass to structure optical fiber tips, which often requires high-temperature treatments that compromise the integrity of temperature-sensitive fiber coatings, according to KTH Professor Kristinn Gylfason. This method starts with a base material that does not contain carbon, resulting in, the use of high temperatures are not required to drive out carbon to make the glass structure transparent.

The integrated glass refractive index with fiber tip is designed to measure the concentration of organic solvents, which is problematic for polymer-based sensors due to their corrosive nature. which is not feasible with polymer-based sensors due to their corrosive nature.

According to Po-Han Huang, the co-author of the study, the structures are so small that they could fit onto a 1,000 grain of sand, which is roughly the size of sensors used today. The researchers also demonstrated a method for printing nanogratings, which are ultra-small patterns etched onto surfaces at the nanometer scale, and are used to manipulate light in precise ways. These patterns may have applications in quantum communication.

The feasibility of 3D printing arbitrary glass structures on fiber tip opens up new possibilities in photonics, according to Gylfason. This research could have far-reaching implications in microfluidic devices, MEMS accelerometers, and fiber-integrated quantum emitters.

Reference: “3D Printing of Glass Micro-Optics with Subwavelength Features on Optical Fiber Tips” by Lee-Lun Lai, Po-Han Huang, Göran Stemme, Frank Niklaus and Kristinn B. Gylfason, 29 March 2024, ACS Nano. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.3c11030