3D printed waveguides based on Photonic Crystal Fiber designs for complex fiber-end photonic devices

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel method of fabricating complex photonic devices by 3D printing photonic crystal fiber designs directly onto fiber ends, enabling miniaturized, broadband optical components like a fiber polarizing beam splitter.

Contribution

The authors introduce a high-resolution 3D printing technique for creating PCF-based waveguide segments directly on fiber ends, enabling complex photonic device fabrication in a single step.

Findings

Successfully fabricated a fiber polarizing beam splitter using 3D printing.

Achieved broadband operation in the optical C-band.

Demonstrated unprecedented precision and flexibility in device fabrication.

Abstract

Optical waveguide segments based on geometrically unbound photonic crystal fibers (PCF) designs could be exploited as building blocks to realize miniaturized complex devices which implement advanced photonic operations. Here, we show how to fabricate optical waveguide segments with PCF designs by direct high-resolution 3D printing and how the combination of these segments can realise complex photonic devices. We demonstrate the unprecedented precision and flexibility of our method by fabricating the first-ever fiber polarising beam splitter based on PCFs. The device was directly printed in one step on the end-face of a standard single-mode fiber and was 210~$\mu$m-long, offering broadband operation in the optical telecommunications C-band. Our approach harnesses the potential of high-resolution 3D printing and of PCF designs paving the way for the development of novel miniaturised complex photonic systems, which will positively impact and advance optical telecommunications, sensor technology, and biomedical devices.