Subwavelength-diameter optical fibers, also known as optical fiber micro and nanofibers, are the tiny cousins of standard optical fibers. These hair-like slivers of glass, manufactured by tapering optical fibers down to a size hundred times smaller than a strand of hair, have a number of optical and mechanical properties that make them very attractive for both fundamental physics and technological applications. In addition to providing strong light confinement and enhanced nonlinear optical effects, optical microfibers also exhibit a large evanescent field, enabling applications not currently possible with comparatively bulky optical fibers.
In this talk, I will review our recent works on a new type of Brillouin light scattering arising from the interaction between guided light and surface acoustic waves. I will further show that this effect may prove interesting for applications to optical sensing that exploit surface acoustic waves, or for precise metrology of optical microfibers.
Dr. Thibaut SYLVESTRE
Institut FEMTO-ST
15B Avenue des Montboucons
25000 Besançon
http://www.femto-st.fr/fr/Departements-de-recherche/OPTIQUE/Equipes-de-recherche/Optique-Non-Lineaire/
