Microtaper leaky-mode spectrometer with picometer resolution

Abstract

The wide application of optical spectroscopy makes miniaturized spectrometers with fundamental importance. The scalability, high-performance, low-cost, and small footprint are still contradicting each other and limiting the applicability of miniaturized spectrometer for practical application. Here we propose a compact spectrometer that satisfies the four advantages. The device uses a fiber taper tip to generate complex leaky mode patterns within 1 mm length. The unique correspondence between the pattern and wavelength operates effectively for hundreds of nanometers spectral range while providing a spectral resolution around ~ 1 pm. The integration of multiple taper tips enables hyperspectral imaging applications. The working range of our device can be further extended using different materials and detectors while keeping the similar architecture.

Optical microfiber or nanofiber: a miniature fiber-optic platform for nanophotonics

“…Besides the applications mentioned above, in recent years, there are many other versatile MNF-based photonic devices or techniques that have been reported, ranging from optical filters [390,[580][581][582] , couplers [453,454,[583][584][585][586] , modulators [345,347,[587][588][589][590][591] , optical autocorrelators [326][327][328][329] , and spectrometers [592] to far-field subwavelength focusing [593] and super-resolution imaging [594] . For example, in 2009 Wang et al proposed to focus optical beams with subwavelength resolution in the far field using an MNF array [593] .…”

“…In 2013, Hao et al exploited the evanescent waves of silica MNFs to illuminate the sample in the near field and demonstrated super-resolution imaging at the far field in a single snapshot with a spatial resolution of tens of nanometers [594] . More recently, Relying on the leaky modes generated from non-adiabatic optical MNFs, Cen et al developed a lowcost, scalable spectrometer with a picometer resolution and submillimeter footprint [592] .…”

Whispering-gallery-mode barcode-based broadband sub-femtometer-resolution spectroscopy with an electro-optic frequency comb

“…Random reflection, scattering, and interference generate speckle patterns during the propagation of light in multimode fiber, [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] singlemode fiber, 10,11 integrating sphere, 12 integrated waveguide, [13][14][15] or more disordered materials. [16][17][18] With longer relative optical path length, the compact speckle-based spectrometers with picometer resolution outperform the state-of-the-art grating spectrometers. Combined with optical frequency comb (OFC), a multimode fiber spectrometer performs spectroscopy of acetylene.…”

Metasurface array for single-shot spectroscopic ellipsometry

“…Yet, a narrowband filter array intrinsically has a low light throughput. More recently, there has been a growing interest to develop metasurface-based miniaturized spectrometers 43 – 47 and hyperspectral imaging systems 48 – 51 based on computational reconstruction. In this approach, a metasurface filter array with a random spectral response is coupled with an iterative optimization algorithm or deep learning to reconstruct the spectrum, thus offering a higher light throughput and less stringent metasurface design requirement.…”