Wenguo Zhu

Large spatial and angular spin splitting in a thin anisotropic ε-near-zero metamaterial

We show theoretically that after transmitted through a thin anisotropic ε-near-zero metamaterial, a linearly polarized Gaussian beam can undergo both transverse spatial and angular spin splitting. The upper limits of spatial and angular spin splitting are found to be the beam waist and divergence angle of incident Gaussian beam, respectively. The spin splitting of transmitted beam after propagating a distance z depends on both the spatial and angular spin splitting. By combining the spatial and angular spin splitting properly, we can maximize the spin splitting of propagated beam, which is nearly equal to the spot size of Gaussian beam w(z).

Tunable spin splitting of Laguerre–Gaussian beams in graphene metamaterials

Optical spin splitting has attracted significant attention owing to its potential applications in quantum information and precision metrology. However, it is typically small and cannot be controlled efficiently. Here, we enhance the spin splitting by transmitting higher-order Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) beams through graphene metamaterial slabs. The interaction between LG beams and metamaterial results in an orbital-angular-momentum- (OAM) dependent spin splitting. The upper bound of the OAM-dependent spin splitting is found, which varies with the incident OAM and beam waist. Moreover, the spin splitting can be flexibly tuned by modulating the Fermi energy of the graphene sheets. This tunable spin splitting has potential applications in the development of spin-based applications and the manipulation of mid-infrared waves.

Coreless side-polished fiber: a novel fiber structure for multimode interference and highly sensitive refractive index sensors

A novel fiber structure, coreless side-polished fiber (CSPF), is proposed and investigated to implement multimode interference (MMI) and high sensitive refractive index (RI) sensors. For such CSPF, the part of the cladding and the core of a single-mode fiber are side-polished off so as to make the remained cladding a D-shaped multimode waveguide. The excitation and evolution of MMI in the CSPF are simulated numerically. The simulation results show that the high-order modes excited within the D-shaped multimode waveguide are mainly TE0,1 (TM0,1)~TE0,6 (TM0,6) modes. Moreover, the RI sensing characteristics and the influences of residual thickness and dip wavelength on the sensitivity are investigated both numerically and experimentally. The experimental results show that the CSPF with a residual thickness of 43.1 μm can reach an ultra-high sensitivity of 28000 nm/RIU in the RI range of 1.442~1.444. It is also found that the sensitivity can be further increased by reducing the residual thickness and choosing the dip at a longer wavelength. Thanks to the ultra-high RI sensitivity and the ease of fabrication, the CSPF could provide a cost-effective platform to build high-performance fiber devices of various functions.

The upper limit of the in-plane spin splitting of Gaussian beam reflected from a glass-air interface

Optical spin splitting has a promising prospect in quantum information and precision metrology. Since it is typically small, many efforts have been devoted to its enhancement. However, the upper limit of optical spin splitting remains uninvestigated. Here, we investigate systematically the in-plane spin splitting of a Gaussian beam reflected from a glass-air interface and find that the spin splitting can be enhanced in three different incident angular ranges: around the Brewster angle, slightly smaller than and larger than the critical angle for total reflection. Within the first angular range, the reflected beam can undergo giant spin splitting but suffers from low energy reflectivity. In the second range, however, a large spin splitting and high energy reflectivity can be achieved simultaneously. The spin splitting becomes asymmetrical within the last angular range, and the displacement of one spin component can be up to half of incident beam waist w0/2. Of all the incident angles, the spin splitting reaches its maximum at Brewster angle. This maximum splitting increases with the refractive index of the “glass” prism, eventually approaching an upper limit of w0. These findings provide a deeper insight into the optical spin splitting phenomena and thereby facilitate the development of spin-based applications.

Molybdenum disulfide nanosheets deposited on polished optical fiber for humidity sensing and human breath monitoring

One important use of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) could be in making sensing and detection devices with optical chip or fiber. Here, MoS2 nanosheets coated on side-polished optical fiber (SPF) is proposed, which can enhance the localized interaction between evanescent light of fiber core and MoS2 nanosheets, this can motivate greatly sensing and detection performance. Moreover, the MoS2 nanosheet possesses exceedingly high surface/volume ratio. By combining the MoS2 nanosheets and the side-polished fiber, humidity sensing characteristics has been demonstrated. The optical transmitted power (OTP) of the MoS2-based SPF changes with a negative correlation to the variation of relative humidity (RH) in experiments. The OTP changes of the MoS2-based SPF as an exponential function can reach ~13.5dB (~54 fold enhancement) when the RH ranges from 40%RH to 85%RH. Furthermore, experiments on the monitoring of human breath have also been conducted to evaluate the response time (0.85 s) and the recovery time (0.85 s). The performance comparison between this proposed device and the other recent-developed fiber-optic humidity sensing devices in literature illustrates the superiority of the MoS2-based SPF in humidity sensing and monitoring of human breath, which paves a path for the MoS2 nanosheets to integrate in lab-on-fiber sensing and detection devices.

All light-control-light properties of molybdenum diselenide (MoSe 2 )-coated-microfiber

Molybdenum diselenide (MoSe2) nanosheets are coated on the tapered region of microfiber (MF) to achieve active light control by light with order of mW. The MoSe2 nanosheets are illuminated by 405 nm and 980 nm lasers which change the conductivity of the MoSe2, thus the transmitted power of the guiding light (λ = 1550 nm) within the MF can be controlled. The transmitted optical power of the MF has a relative variation of ~2 dB (0.165 dB/mW) when the 405 nm light is illuminating on the MoSe2 nanosheets with a power ranging from 0 to 11.6 mW. The sensitivities of the 980 nm in-fiber and out-fiber experiments are 0.092 dB/mW and 0.851 dB/mW, respectively. The rise and fall times of the transient response are 0.4s and 0.6s, respectively. Therefore, the guiding light in our MF coated with MoSe2 can be effectively manipulated by the 405 and 980 nm light (order of mW). The MF coated with MoSe2 has potential applications in light sensing and all-optically controllable devices.

Enhanced optical sensitivity of molybdenum diselenide (MoSe 2 ) coated side polished fiber for humidity sensing

In this paper, a side-polished fiber (SPF) coated with molybdenum diselenide (MoSe2) is proposed, and its characteristic of relative humidity (RH) sensing is investigated. It is found in the experiment that an enhancement in RH sensitivity (0.321 dB/%RH) can be achieved in a very wide RH range of 32%RH to 73%RH for the proposed MoSe2 coated SPF (MoSe2CSPF). It is also shown that the MoSe2CSPF has a rapid response of 1s and recovery time of 4s, which makes the sensor capable of monitoring human breath. The experimental results suggest MoSe2 has a promising potential in photonics applications such as all-fiber optic humidity sensing networks.

Giant spin splitting induced by orbital angular momentum in an epsilon-near-zero metamaterial slab

An orbital angular momentum (OAM)-induced spin splitting is theoretically predicted when a higher-order Laguerre-Gaussian beam is transmitted through a metamaterial slab. The upper bound of this spin splitting is found to be |ℓ|w0/(|ℓ|+1)1/2, where ℓ and w0 are the incident OAM and beam waist, respectively. By optimizing the structure parameter of the metamaterial, as well as the incident angle, the OAM-induced spin splitting can reach more than 0.99 of the upper bound in the cases of both the horizontal and vertical incident polarization states, and the transmitted light fields turn out to be full Poincaré beams. These findings provide a deeper insight into the spin-orbit interaction, and, thereby, facilitate the development of spin-based applications.

The chiral nanophotonic coupling in two crossed fibers

In this paper, we demonstrate and investigate numerically the chiral coupling effect between a microfiber and a nanofiber. The light propagation direction in the nanofiber is determined by the handedness of the light field in microfiber. According to the radius of nanofiber, the fundamental mode in microfiber can be coupled into both the fundamental and the higher order modes of nanofiber. Our findings have potential applications in new designs of nanophotonic devices.

Interlinked add-drop filter with amplitude modulation routing a fiber-optic microring to a lithium niobate microwaveguide

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a new electro-optically controllable add-drop filter based on light coupling between a microfiber knot ring (MKR) and a lithium niobate (LN) microwaveguide. In our design, the MKR works as a resonator and routes the resonant light into the LN microwaveguide. The LN microwaveguide, as an excellent intermediary between electronics and optics, is a robust platform that not only enables stable support and manipulation of the MKR but also provides amplitude tunability taking advantage of its electro-optic property. Two add-drop filters with different diameters of the MKR, 1.12 mm, and 560 μm respectively, are studied, and a maximum amplitude tunability of ∼0.139  dB/V is obtained. The results show that this design can be a solution to interconnect a microstructured optical fiber with a microstructured on-chip device and provide an effective method to realize the active on-chip integration of the conventional fiber system.