Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Photonics

Shrinking optical fibres

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Materials

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Optical fibres: great for long-haul telecommunications, but can the same concept be used to 'conduct' light on the microscopic scale? Recent research would indicate not only that we can, but that it is a superior solution.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1: Tong and co-workers demonstrate the flexibility and robustness of their silica nanowires by literally tying them in knots.
Figure 2: Simulated electric field pattern in the vicinity of a ninety-degree bend in a two-dimensional photonic crystal waveguide.

References

  1. Agrawal, G.P. Fiber-Optic Communication Systems (Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Suzuki, K., Matsui, S. & Ochiai, O. Sub-Half-Micron Lithography for ULSIs (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2000).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Ladoucer, F. & Love, J.D. Silica-based Buried Channel Waveguides and Devices (Chapman and Hall, London, 1996).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Tong, L. et al. Nature 426, 816–819 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Hu, J.Q., Meng, X.M., Jiang, Y., Lee, C.S. & Lee, S.T. Adv. Mater. 15, 70–73 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Birks, T.A. & Li, Y.W. IEEE J. Lightwave Tech. 10, 432–438 (1992).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Joannopoulos, J.D., Meade, R.D. & Winn, J.N. Photonic Crystals: Molding the Flow of Light (Princeton Univ. Press, 1995).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ARC Centre of Excellence for Ultrahigh-bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS), School of Physics, University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006, New South Wales, Australia

    Peter Domachuk & Benjamin J. Eggleton

  2. Peter Domachuk & Benjamin J. Eggleton

Authors
  1. Peter Domachuk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Benjamin J. Eggleton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Domachuk, P., Eggleton, B. Shrinking optical fibres. Nature Mater 3, 85–86 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1065

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1065

  • Springer Nature Limited

Search

Navigation