Functionalized polymer nanofibers: a versatile platform for manipulating light at the nanoscale

Abstract

As an organic optical fiber with a diameter comparable to or less than the wavelength of light, polymer nanofibers have been attracting increasing attention as a platform for manipulating light at the nanoscale. A variety of applications for polymer optical nanofibers, including waveguides, light sources and sensors, have been reported in recent years. In this article, the recent progress in the field of polymer optical nanofibers is reviewed in terms of their fabrication, characterization and applications. In particular, we focus on functionalized polymer nanofibers doped with functional materials, such as dye molecules, noble metal nanoparticles, quantum dots and rare earth ions, which greatly expand their capabilities of generating, propagating, converting and modulating light at the nanoscale. This Review describes the photonic capabilities and applications of polymer nanofibres. Pan Wang, Yipei Wang and Limin Tong from Zhejiang University report that submicrometre-diameter fibres can act as highly efficient waveguides for guiding light with losses of 0.1 dB mm–1 or less. The mechanical flexibility of such fibres allows them to be bent and assembled into microcouplers, resonators and interferometers. They have been made from poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), polyacrylamide (PAM), and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO). Furthermore, doping with laser dyes, rare-earth ions, quantum dots, metallic nanoparticles and biomaterials can transform such fibres into miniature light sources, lasers, sensors or wavelength converters for nanophotonic applications.