Micro-tapered Fibres: From Applied Optics to Cold Atoms Studies

Dr Síle Nic Chormaic

Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork, Ireland

3:30 pm Wednesday, 2 April 2008, EN101 (Ground Floor, EN Building), Hawthorn.

In this talk, I will present research on the use of micro-tapered fibres in a range of experiments from coupling pump light into lasing/fluorescing microspherical glass resonators, to probing the resonance fluorescence from laser cooled rubidium atoms. The microtapers are fabricated using a heat-and-pull technique and standard optical fibre. During the fabrication process, the transmission through the fibre is monitored to ensure that the adiabticity criterion is satisfied. We have fabricated sub-micron diameter fibres with transmission as high as 90%, using a range of heat sources including a CO2 laser, micro-heaters and a butane flame.
I will discuss some of the results we have obtained from upconversion processes in active glass media and novel device fabrication, and the progress we have made on determining the asymmetry in the resonance fluorescence from rubidium atoms coupled into the fibre and the effects of the van der Waals interaction. Finally, I will comment on future prospects and plans for this work.

Back to 2008 programme