
Chapter 11
Silica Nanofibers and
Subwavelength-Diameter
Fibers
Limin Tong
1
and Eric Mazur
2
1
Zheijiang University, Hangzh ou, P.R. China
2
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
11.1 NANOFIBER AT A GLANCE
Air-clad silica (SiO
2
) nanofibers, named for their submicrometer diameters,
have a large core-cladding index contrast for efficient optical confinement. For
single-mode operation, these fibers are usually thinner than the wavelength of
the light they carry and are, therefore, also called subwavelength-diameter fibers.
The small diameter of a nanofiber and the large core-cladding index contrast
yield a number of interesting optical properties such as ...