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-toend fibers, especially in applications requiring fiber bundles such as brain stimulation or remote sensing. This Letter demonstrates that continuous wave (CW) laser microablation 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 μ m fiber can deliver more than 8% of the input light. This can be increased to more than 19% on a 65 μ m 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.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1808-1811 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Optics Letters |
Volume | 42 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 1 2017 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics