Surface nanoscale axial photonics

Abstract

Dense photonic integration promises to revolutionize optical computing and communications. However, efforts towards this goal face unacceptable attenuation of light caused by surface roughness in microscopic devices. Here we address this problem by introducing Surface Nanoscale Axial Photonics (SNAP). The SNAP platform is based on whispering gallery modes circulating around the optical fiber surface and undergoing slow axial propagation readily described by the one-dimensional Schr\"odinger equation. These modes can be steered with dramatically small nanoscale variation of the fiber radius, which is quite simple to introduce in practice. The extremely low loss of SNAP devices is achieved due to the fantastically low surface roughness inherent in a drawn fiber surface. In excellent agreement with the developed theory, we experimentally demonstrate localization of light in quantum wells, halting light by a point source, tunneling through potential barriers, dark states, etc. This demonstration, prototyping basic quantum mechanical phenomena with light, has intriguing potential applications in filtering, switching, slowing light, and sensing.