Metasurface Polarimeter on Optical Fiber Facet by Nano-Transfer to UV-Curable Hybrid Polymer

Abstract

A simple, cost-effective, and high-throughput method of patterning an optical fiber facet using template stripping to transfer a gold pattern to a UV-curable hybrid polymer is presented. The template stripping transfer method is demonstrated with two different approaches: A fiber exposure approach where the position of the transferred nanostructure relative to the fiber can be aligned by optical curing of polymer through the fiber, and a flood exposure approach that allows the transfer of a larger area of nanostructure. An in-line metasurface polarimeter patterned on a 1550-nm single-mode fiber facet using this technique is reported, demonstrating the capacity of the miniaturization of the metasurface polarimeter. The demonstrated fiber-based metasurface polarimeters are ultracompact, cost-effective, robust, simple, and deliver high-performance polarization measurements. They are fully viable alternatives to existing solutions with applications mainly in polarization state generation and fiber optics communication.