Ultra-sensitive surface absorption spectroscopy using sub-wavelength diameter optical fibers
Soft Condensed Matter
2009-11-13 v2
Abstract
The guided modes of sub-wavelength diameter air-clad optical fibers exhibit a pronounced evanescent field. The absorption of particles on the fiber surface is therefore readily detected via the fiber transmission. We show that the resulting absorption for a given surface coverage can be orders of magnitude higher than for conventional surface spectroscopy. As a demonstration, we present measurements on sub-monolayers of 3,4,9,10-perylene-tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) molecules at ambient conditions, revealing the agglomeration dynamics on a second to minutes timescale.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0701264,
title = {Ultra-sensitive surface absorption spectroscopy using sub-wavelength diameter optical fibers},
author = {F. Warken and E. Vetsch and D. Meschede and M. Sokolowski and A. Rauschenbeutel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0701264},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, Fig.1a corrected y-axis, p.2 minor text changes to facilitate the understanding of eq. 4 and 6