Significant retrieval of lost evanescent power by tuning modes close-to-cutoff with a gel-coated taper

Huacai Chen; Jianjun Ma; Jiahua Chen; Wojtek J Bock

doi:10.1364/OL.36.002092

Significant retrieval of lost evanescent power by tuning modes close-to-cutoff with a gel-coated taper

Opt Lett. 2011 Jun 1;36(11):2092-4. doi: 10.1364/OL.36.002092.

Authors

Huacai Chen¹, Jianjun Ma, Jiahua Chen, Wojtek J Bock

Affiliation

¹ College of Optical and Electronic Technology, China Jiliang University, Xueyuan St. Xiasha Higher Education Zone, Hangzhou 310018, China.

PMID: 21633459
DOI: 10.1364/OL.36.002092

Abstract

We report a fiber-optic evanescent-wave (EW) sensor capable of dramatically increasing the power collection level by capturing the EW power that is normally lost. The key element is a taper with a thin overlay that is completely separated from the sample by an arbitrary distance and thus operates remotely within the instrumentation system. A two-stage tuning of the close-to-cutoff modes occurring within this element is proposed to interpret the observed phenomenon.