Microbeams of Visible Light by Tapered Glass Capillaries

Abstract

Propagation of visible light through a tapered glass capillary was studied for production of microbeams. Transmittance of laser light through capillaries with different outlet diameters was measured to be about several % and, in combining with the optical lens, larger than 80% was obtained. Density enhancement of the extracted beam was derived and it was found that the tapered glass capillary has the strong focusing ability of light.