Abstract
Disordered optical fibers show novel waveguiding properties that can be used for various device applications, such as beam-multiplexed optical communications and endoscopic image transport. The strong transverse scattering from the transversely disordered optical fibers results in transversely confined beams that can freely propagate in the longitudinal direction, similar to conventional optical fibers, with the advantage that any point in the cross section of the fiber can be used for beam transport. For beam multiplexing and imaging applications, it is highly desirable to make the localized beam radius as small as possible. This requires large refractive index differences between the materials that define the random features in the disordered fiber. Here, disordered glass-air fibers are briefly reviewed, where randomly placed airholes in a glass matrix provide the sufficiently large refractive index difference of 0.5 for strong random transverse scattering. The main future challenge for the fabrication of an optimally disordered glass-air fibers is to increase the fill-fraction of airholes to nearly 50% for maximum beam confinement.
Highlights
Anderson localization is the absence of diffusive wave transport in highly disordered scattering media [1,2,3]
We emphasize that polymer Anderson localized fiber (pALOF) does not have a core/cladding structure; the entire transverse cross section of the fiber can be used to transport light, unlike the conventional optical fibers where light is only guided by the core
One of the main parameters that control the localized beam radius is the refractive index difference between the random features in the disordered fiber. Another important parameter that affects the localized beam radius is the relative ratio of the random binary materials, which must be close to unity (50% fill-fraction) for maximum transverse scattering to obtain the smallest possible beam radius
Summary
Anderson localization is the absence of diffusive wave transport in highly disordered scattering media [1,2,3]. Reprinted/Reproduced with permission from Optics Letters, 2012 [14], and the Optical Society of America In their pioneering work, Schwartz et al [19] wrote the transversely disordered and longitudinally invariant refractive index profiles in a photorefractive crystal using a laser beam. In order to obtain an optical fiber-like behavior with a localization radius comparable to that of conventional optical fibers, large refractive index fluctuations are required. This was addressed first by Karbasi et al [14] in a disordered polymer fiber in 2012, the details of which will be discussed
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