Investigation of light coupling techniques for electrospun polymer-optical nanofibers

Electrospinning allows the fabrication of macroscopic polymer based optical nanofiber mats of both randomly oriented and uniaxially aligned fibers, where the degree of disorder in the system depends on production parameters of the electrospinning process as well as on dopants, i.e. molecules or nanoparticles, introduced into the fibers or attached to their surface. Thus, such electrospun nanofibers promise a great range of possible applications in near-field optics and optomechanics. In order to explore these applications it is necessary to develop an accurate method of coupling light in and out of the nanofiber structure. In this work we investigate different light coupling techniques to couple light selectively in and out of nanofibers. Based on evanescent coupling the light coupling between an angle-polished single-mode silica glass fiber and electrospun poly(methyl methacrylate) as well as poly(acrylonitrile) nanofibers is explored. The angle-polished SM fiber could offer the advantage that it can be used to introduce light at arbitrary and spatially confined position along the nanofiber structure which might, in future, be advantageous to realize novel optical sensor concepts.