Nguyen H, Arnob MMP, Becker AT, Wolfe JC, Hogan MK, Horner PJ, Shih WC. Fabrication of multipoint side-firing optical fiber by laser micro-ablation.
OPTICS LETTERS 2017;
42:1808-1811. [PMID:
28454166 PMCID:
PMC5769456 DOI:
10.1364/ol.42.001808]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
A multipoint, side-firing design enables an optical fiber to output light at multiple desired locations along the fiber body. This provides advantages over traditional end-to-end fibers, especially in applications requiring fiber bundles such as brain stimulation or remote sensing. This Letter demonstrates that continuous wave (CW) laser micro-ablation can controllably create conical-shaped cavities, or side windows, for outputting light. The dimensions of these cavities determine the amount of firing light and their firing angle. Experimental data show that a single side window on a 730 μm fiber can deliver more than 8% of the input light. This can be increased to more than 19% on a 65 μm fiber with side windows created using femtosecond laser ablation and chemical etching. Fine control of light distribution along an optical fiber is critical for various biomedical applications such as light-activated drug-release and optogenetics studies.
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