Surface alignment of liquid crystals (LCs) is key for optimizing their performance. Effective LC alignment strongly depends on the substrate used, which should promote strong local anchoring of the director field. Our work introduces a novel method using nanolithography to control the alignment of thermotropic LCs. Key to the approach is the use of 3D nanoprinting to create customized parallel nanogrooves on a glass substrate. These grooves yield azimuthal anchoring energies ranging from 10^-6 J/m² to 10^-5 J/m², partially surpassing values from other photopolymers. This approach offers high spatial resolution (~2µm) and allows for electro-optical switching, thus providing a flexible substrate platform for LC applications.
Meta-Fibers, which incorporate 3D-printed Metalens into optical fiber facets, are versatile technology with applications in imaging, optical trapping, and electromagnetic wave manipulation. Single-Mode Fiber (SMF) stands out for its defined output, but its limited mode field diameter poses a challenge, often requiring fusion splicing with Multi-Mode Fiber (MMF) or a 3D-printed structure to expand SMF's usable cross-section. However, these methods are complex and may damage the Meta-Fiber. This study introduces an alternative, replacing SMF with Thermally Expanded Core (TEC) fiber, featuring a significantly larger mode field diameter. This approach enables optical trapping and imaging via 3D laser-printed ultra-high numerical aperture metalens into TEC fibers, functioning effectively in diverse environments. The findings expand Meta-Fiber applications, providing an efficient, robust, and scalable solution for optical wavefront manipulation, highlighting the potential of TEC fibers in optics and photonics technology.
The integration of metasurfaces onto the end faces of optical fibers holds great promise for numerous applications. Traditional top-down fabrication struggles with optical fiber geometry. Our presentation reveals a solution: 3D nanoprinting via direct laser writing to create nanopillar metasurfaces on fiber end faces. This concept gives rise to a novel kind of fiber devices called meta-fibers, allowing for shaping the fiber's output properties. We showcase two applications: (i) achromatic fiber-interfaced metasurface lenses covering the entire telecommunication range, and (ii) meta-fibers generating structured light. These meta-fibers utilize dielectric nanopillars of varying heights, a capability unique to the nanoprinting process.
High-speed tracking of nano-objects is a gateway to understanding processes at the nanoscale. Here we will present our results on tracking single or ensembles of nano-objects inside optofluidic fibers and on-chip waveguides via elastic light scattering. The nano-objects diffuse inside a channel of a microstructured waveguide and the light scattered by the nano-object is detected transversely via a microscope. We will present the fundamentals of this approach and focus on selected results including 3D tracking in dual-core microstructured fibers and revealing the limits of the approach. We will also present first results on tracking inside nanoprinted on-chip waveguides.
High-speed tracking of nano-objects is a gateway to understanding biological processes at the nanoscale. Here we will present our results on tracking single or ensembles of nano-objects inside optofluidic fibers via elastic light scattering. The nano-objects diffuse inside a channel of a microstructured fiber and the light scattered by the nano-object is detected transversely via a microscope. We will present the fundamentals of this approach and focus on selected results including retrieval of the full 3D trajectory of a diffusing nano-sphere, the simultaneous detection of hundreds of nano-objects in hollow core anti-resonant fibers and first results on inactivated SARS-CoV-2.
High-speed tracking of nano-objects is a gateway to understanding biological processes at the nanoscale. Here we will present our results on tracking single or ensembles of nano-objects inside optofluidic fibers via elastic light scattering. The nano-objects diffuse inside a channel of a microstructured fiber and the light scattered by the nano-object is detected transversely via a microscope. We will present the fundamentals of this approach and focus on selected results including retrieval of the full 3D trajectory of a diffusing nano-sphere, the simultaneous detection of hundreds of nano-objects in hollow core anti-resonant fibers and first results on inactivated SARS-CoV-2.
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