Microstructured Optical Fibers as High-Pressure Microfluidic Reactors

Deposition of semiconductors and metals from chemical precursors onto planar substrates is a well-developed science and technology for microelectronics. Optical fibers are an established platform for both communications technology and fundamental research in photonics. Here, we describe a hybrid technology that integrates key aspects of both engineering disciplines, demonstrating the fabrication of tubes, solid nanowires, coaxial heterojunctions, and longitudinally patterned structures composed of metals, single-crystal semiconductors, and polycrystalline elemental or compound semiconductors within microstructured silica optical fibers. Because the optical fibers are constructed and the functional materials are chemically deposited in distinct and independent steps, the full design flexibilities of both platforms can now be exploited simultaneously for fiber-integrated optoelectronic materials and devices.

[1]  P. O’Brien,et al.  CVD of Compound Semiconductors: Precursor Synthesis, Development and Applications , 1997 .

[2]  M. Fokine,et al.  Integrated fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer for electro-optic switching. , 2002, Optics letters.

[3]  L. Liao,et al.  Optical transmission losses in polycrystalline silicon strip waveguides: Effects of waveguide dimensions, thermal treatment, hydrogen passivation, and wavelength , 2000 .

[4]  Evangelos Anastassakis,et al.  Polycrystalline Si under strain: Elastic and lattice‐dynamical considerations , 1987 .

[5]  Charles M. Lieber,et al.  Single-nanowire electrically driven lasers , 2003, Nature.

[6]  Charles M. Lieber,et al.  Epitaxial core–shell and core–multishell nanowire heterostructures , 2002, Nature.

[7]  Charles M. Lieber,et al.  Growth of nanowire superlattice structures for nanoscale photonics and electronics , 2002, Nature.

[8]  Yanyi Huang,et al.  Fabrication of functional microstructured optical fibers through a selective-filling technique , 2004 .

[9]  Eric M. Vogel,et al.  Silicon nanowires as enhancement-mode Schottky barrier field-effect transistors , 2005 .

[10]  E. Rosencher,et al.  Random quasi-phase-matching in bulk polycrystalline isotropic nonlinear materials , 2004, Nature.

[11]  J. T. Krause,et al.  Strength and fatigue of silica optical fibers , 1989 .

[12]  D. Miller,et al.  Strong quantum-confined Stark effect in germanium quantum-well structures on silicon , 2005, Nature.

[13]  Herbert Shea,et al.  Single- and multi-wall carbon nanotube field-effect transistors , 1998 .

[14]  Lionel C. Kimerling,et al.  Losses in polycrystalline silicon waveguides , 1996 .

[15]  M. Paniccia,et al.  A high-speed silicon optical modulator based on a metal–oxide–semiconductor capacitor , 2004, Nature.

[16]  D. Hewak,et al.  Deposition and characterization of germanium sulphide glass planar waveguides. , 2004, Optics express.

[17]  Ayman F. Abouraddy,et al.  Metal–insulator–semiconductor optoelectronic fibres , 2004, Nature.

[18]  J. Watkins,et al.  Deposition of gold films and nanostructures from supercritical carbon dioxide , 2004 .

[19]  P. Roberts,et al.  Ultimate low loss of hollow-core photonic crystal fibres. , 2005, Optics express.