Controlled Transportation of Light by Light at the Microscale

We show how light can be controllably transported by light at microscale dimensions. We design a miniature device that consists of a short segment of an optical fiber coupled to transversally oriented input-output microfibers. A whispering gallery soliton is launched from the first microfiber into the fiber segment and slowly propagates along its mm-scale length. The soliton loads and unloads optical pulses at designated input-output microfibers. The speed of the soliton and its propagation direction is controlled by the dramatically small, yet feasible to introduce, permanently or all-optically, nanoscale variations of the effective fiber radius.

Automated summary

The researchers have designed a miniature device that can control the transport of light by launching whispering gallery solitons into an optical fiber. The solitons slowly propagate along the fiber and load/unload optical pulses at designated locations. The speed and direction of the solitons are controlled by minuscule variations in the effective fiber radius.