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Photonics

Shrinking optical fibres

Nature Materials volume 3, pages 85–86 (2004)Cite this article

Optical fibres: great for long-haul telecommunications, but can the same concept be used to 'conduct' light on the microscopic scale? Recent research would indicate not only that we can, but that it is a superior solution.

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Figure 1: Tong and co-workers demonstrate the flexibility and robustness of their silica nanowires by literally tying them in knots.
Figure 2: Simulated electric field pattern in the vicinity of a ninety-degree bend in a two-dimensional photonic crystal waveguide.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ARC Centre of Excellence for Ultrahigh-bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS), School of Physics, University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006, New South Wales, Australia

    Peter Domachuk & Benjamin J. Eggleton

  2. Peter Domachuk & Benjamin J. Eggleton

Authors
  1. Peter Domachuk
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  2. Benjamin J. Eggleton
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Domachuk, P., Eggleton, B. Shrinking optical fibres. Nature Mater 3, 85–86 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1065

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