Transmission characteristics of optical nanofibers in metastable xenon

Abstract

We study the transmission characteristics of sub-wavelength diameter silica optical nanofibers (ONF's) surrounded with a xenon plasma produced by a low-pressure inductive RF discharge. In contrast to related experiments using rubidium vapor, we find essentially no degradation of optical transmission through the ONF's as a function of time. We also observe a pronounced ONF transmission modulation effect that depends on the conditions of the xenon plasma.

Maximizing optical production of metastable xenon

“…This system has an RF resonance frequency of 130 MHz, and is driven by a low power signal generator that is amplified to produce a glow discharge plasma in the chamber. For our full range of neutral xenon pressures, an amplified RF power of ∼20 W was found to maximize the initial Xe* density [10] (ie. the baseline |m population; via the process shown illustrated in Figure 1(a)).…”

“…Metastable noble gas atoms are used in diverse areas ranging from fundamental physics experiments [1][2][3][4], to applications in plasma display panels [5][6][7], ultralow-power nonlinear optical devices [8][9][10], and rare gas lasers [11][12][13][14][15][16]. In many of these applications, the production of high densities of metastable states is desirable, and techniques for efficiently promoting a substantial fraction of the ground state population to the metastable state are of paramount importance.…”

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

“…To alleviate the atom accumulation, they designed a heating unit to raise the surface temperature of the MNF, enabling the stable preservation of the MNF with a relatively high optical transmittance (∼30%) surrounded by a high-density rubidium vapor. Afterwards, Lamsal et al employed metastable xenon as a promising alternative to rubidium [262,263] , in which a sub-500-nm-diameter silica MNF resided in a vacuum chamber backfilled with xenon gas. Using this low-pressure system (around 30 mTorr), they demonstrated a complete lack of optical transmission degradation in a 350-nm-diameter silica MNF over several hours [263] .…”

“…Afterwards, Lamsal et al . employed metastable xenon as a promising alternative to rubidium [262,263] , in which a sub-500-nm-diameter silica MNF resided in a vacuum chamber backfilled with xenon gas. Using this low-pressure system (around 30 mTorr), they demonstrated a complete lack of optical transmission degradation in a 350-nm-diameter silica MNF over several hours [263] .In addition, safe and convenient handling of the MNFs without breaking is also required in experiments.…”

“…employed metastable xenon as a promising alternative to rubidium [262,263] , in which a sub-500-nm-diameter silica MNF resided in a vacuum chamber backfilled with xenon gas. Using this low-pressure system (around 30 mTorr), they demonstrated a complete lack of optical transmission degradation in a 350-nm-diameter silica MNF over several hours [263] .In addition, safe and convenient handling of the MNFs without breaking is also required in experiments. For this purpose, a U-shaped bracket is typically employed for detaching an as-fabricated MNF from the taper-drawing system [see Fig.…”