Open AccessUsing a slightly tapered optical fiber to attract and transport microparticles
Author(s) -
Fang-Wen Sheu,
Hongyu Wu,
Sy-Hann Chen
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.18.005574
Subject(s) - optics , materials science , optical fiber , fiber , graded index fiber , polarization maintaining optical fiber , photonic crystal fiber , dispersion shifted fiber , fiber laser , hard clad silica optical fiber , plastic optical fiber , laser , single mode optical fiber , fiber optic sensor , optoelectronics , physics , composite material
We exploit a fiber puller to transform a telecom single-mode optical fiber with a 125 microm diameter into a symmetric and unbroken slightly tapered optical fiber with a 50 microm diameter at the minimum waist. When the laser light is launched into the optical fiber, we can observe that, due to the evanescent wave of the slightly tapered fiber, the nearby polystyrene microparticles with 10 microm diameters will be attracted onto the fiber surface and roll separately in the direction of light propagation. We have also simulated and compared the optical propulsion effects on the microparticles when the laser light is launched into a slightly tapered fiber and a heavily tapered (subwavelength) fiber, respectively.