All-fiber photonic devices for optical bio-imaging and illumination applications

Abstract

The fiber optic probe based optical systems have been actively applied to a wide range of applications such as optical imaging, optical sensing, optical trapping, illumination and nanophotonics, because optical fiber has unique advantages in terms of miniaturization, lightweight, cost effective, flexible, and robustness. Miniaturized fiber optic probes for endoscopic applications offer the potential to in vivo imaging and illumination applications. Despite its great potential, integration of these advanced fiber optic probes inside an endomicroscope is still challenging. Most probes still require complementary bulk optics for beam focusing or beam expanding such as GRIN lens, or objective lens system. These bulk optics require precise optical alignments and has packaging size. This study presents a facile and direct fabrication method for integrating functional optical microstructures on the top surface of an optical fiber. The proposed ultrathin all-fiber photonic device and fabrication methods will provide a new direction for developing miniaturized endoscopic imaging and structured illumination probe with high efficiency