Resolving optical illumination distributions along an axially symmetric photodetecting fiber

• Main Authors: Sorin, Fabien (Contributor), Lestoquoy, Guillaume (Contributor), Danto, Sylvain (Contributor), Fink, Yoel (Contributor), Joannopoulos, John (Author)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics (Contributor), Joannopoulos, John D. (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Optical Society of America, 2013-01-25T16:58:16Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

 Photodetecting fibers of arbitrary length with internal metal, semiconductor and insulator domains have recently been demonstrated. These semiconductor devices exhibit a continuous translational symmetry which presents challenges to the extraction of spatially resolved information. Here, we overcome this seemingly fundamental limitation and achieve the detection and spatial localization of a single incident optical beam at sub-centimeter resolution, along a one-meter fiber section. Using an approach that breaks the axial symmetry through the constuction of a convex electrical potential along the fiber axis, we demonstrate the full reconstruction of an arbitrary rectangular optical wave profile. Finally, the localization of up to three points of illumination simultaneously incident on a photodetecting fiber is achieved.