{"id":550452,"date":"2023-02-17T11:36:41","date_gmt":"2023-02-17T16:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=550452"},"modified":"2023-02-20T16:22:59","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T21:22:59","slug":"tapered-optical-fiber-addresses-brillouin-scattering-550452","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/tapered-optical-fiber-addresses-brillouin-scattering-550452\/","title":{"rendered":"Tapered optical fiber addresses challenge posed by Brillouin scattering"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rochester researchers achieve strong optical-acoustic interactions with long-lived acoustic waves.<\/h2>\n

When optical beams, consisting of photons, travel through fibers, they cause vibrations that generate acoustic waves, consisting of phonons. The phenomenon, called Brillouin scattering, has been harnessed by researchers to optomechanically \u201ccouple\u201d acoustic waves with light waves. This coupling allows information carried by photons to be transduced, or converted, to the phonons, which travel nearly a million times more slowly than light waves.<\/p>\n

Opto-acoustic coupling has enabled researchers to read and manipulate the transduced information more easily. To date, however, many of the Brillouin scattering techniques researchers have used rely on standard fiber geometries that cause acoustic waves to die out quickly, limiting the efficacy of the coupling.<\/p>\n

Now, using an optical fiber with a micron-sized waist, University of Rochester<\/a> researchers have demonstrated how to couple propagating optical waves and long-lived acoustic waves, with strong optical-acoustic\u00a0interactions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a unique and desirable combination that has not previously been achieved,\u201d says Wendao Xu, a PhD candidate in the research group of William Renninger<\/a>, assistant professor at Rochester\u2019s Institute of Optics<\/a>. Xu is the lead author of a paper in Optica<\/em><\/a> describing the breakthrough.<\/p>\n

The breakthrough enables information carried by a light pulse to be temporarily stored in slowly propagating acoustic waves long enough for a second pulse of light to \u201cread\u201d the information. The achievement could have applications for light storage, radio-frequency photonics filtering, and optical delay lines.<\/p>\n

The research received Best Presentation Award at the WOMBAT 2022 Workshop on Optomechanics and Brillouin Scattering at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light<\/a>, where it was presented by coauthor Arjun Iyer, also a PhD candidate in Renninger\u2019s lab<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWendao, Arjun, and our collaborators at the University of Tokyo did a great job in demonstrating the promise of this new platform and we are all excited as we begin focusing on next generation devices and real-world applications,\u201d Renninger says.<\/p>\n

\"illustration
A tapered optical fiber created by University of Rochester researchers achieves strong optical-acoustic interactions with long-lived acoustic waves. (Illustration by Wendao Xu)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brillouin scattering in optical fibers: overcoming challenges<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cThe amplitude of the acoustic wave keeps decreasing as it travels,\u201d Xu explains. \u201cBasically, all the high-impact Brillouin scattering that people are dealing with right now produce strong interactions, but the acoustic waves are high in frequency, in the gigahertz range. The higher the frequency, the shorter the wave can actually travel before it dies out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Xu\u2019s tapered optical fiber device achieves both strong interactions and longer acoustic lifetimes. It consists of a multi-mode glass fiber with the cladding (coating) removed. By heating the center of the fiber and simultaneously applying mechanical tension to stretch the fiber at both ends, Xu and his collaborators produced a tightly confined, symmetrical \u201cwaist\u201d in the fiber.<\/p>\n

This waist provides \u201can ideal optomechanical overlap yielding the strongest Brillouin coupling strengths observed to date from a fiber taper, and comparable to the largest optomechanical coupling strength for any system,\u201d the paper notes.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the lifetime of the phonons that the device generates\u2014about 2 microseconds\u2014is long enough that information carried by a light pulse can be temporarily stored in this slowly propagating acoustic wave for a relatively long period of time, before a second pulse of light reads the information.<\/p>\n

A tapered optical fiber device<\/strong><\/h3>\n

According to Iyer, Xu\u2019s achievement is twofold. \u201cOne is the system, the tapered fiber device, which supports an acoustic wave family that people didn\u2019t pay a lot of attention to previously,\u201d he says. \u201cThe other is the process itself, using an interaction between two different optical spatial modes to get what we wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The process\u2014including the physics involved in achieving strong interactions with long phonon lifetimes\u2014could be adapted and applied immediately to improve existing technologies, he says. For example, detecting and filtering out unwanted radio frequencies in photonic filters, or producing fiber-optic transmission delays to compensate for delay differences in optical fiber systems.<\/p>\n

The tapered fiber system, on the other hand, while useful for research, is likely too fragile for real world applications outside the lab, Iyer says. \u201cThese are micron-sized filaments of glass that are just hanging there,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

However, the researchers are already exploring ways to package the system for real world applications, Iyer says.<\/p>\n

Other collaborators include Lei Jin and Sze Y. Set at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo. The research was supported with funding from the University of Rochester and National Science Foundation. The University of Rochester\u2019s Integrated Nanosystems Center provided expertise and assistance with the SEM (scanning electron microscope) characterization of the taper device.<\/p>\n

\n

Read more<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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$12 million challenge fund presents an opportunity to increase the program\u2019s prominence at a critical time for the optics field.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"illustrationNovel chirped pulses defy \u2018conventional wisdom\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Rochester researchers have produced chirped pulses in a way that works even with relatively low-quality, inexpensive equipment.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"OpticalRochester researchers document record-setting optical fiber<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The innovative fiber\u2014made of seven capillaries surrounding a hollow core\u2014may be a promising platform for quantum information processing and other applications.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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