Soft Matter Macro and Micro-Photonics workshop

Bridging nanophotonics and optical fibers through 3D nanoprinting:
A novel approach for tailored light control

Markus A. Schmidt

Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology, Albert-Einstein-Str. 9, 07745 Jena

Otto Schott Institute of Material Research, Fraunhoferstr.6, 07743 Jena, Germany.

Nanophotonics and fiber optics are both highly relevant fields at the forefront of modern photonics, yet they have largely evolved as separate disciplines with limited overlap. A promising strategy to unify these fields is 3D nanoprinting, which enables the transfer of fiber-optic concepts to on-chip photonics and the direct fabrication of nanoscale structures on the facet of optical fibers.

In the first part of the talk, I will report on the concept of meta-fibers - optical fibers functionalized with 3D nanoprinted nanostructures on their end faces used for tailored beam manipulation. I will discuss demonstrations including optical trapping of microspheres and bacteria, fiber-interfaced metasurfaces for achromatic focusing and advanced beam shaping, and tunable focus generation via phase-only holograms.

In the second half of the talk, I will present our recent progress in fiber-inspired on-chip hollow-core waveguides, emphasizing their potential for tailored light guiding via the anti-resonant effect. This interference-based mechanism allows light to propagate in low-index media such as gases and liquids, making them highly attractive for applications in vapor-phase spectroscopy, liquid-phase sensing, and nanoparticle tracking analysis to study the Brownian motion of nanoscale objects.

Taken together, these results demonstrate how 3D nanoprinting provides a flexible and powerful platform for custom beam control and novel photonic functionality at the interface of nanophotonics and fiber optics.