Quantum technology with optical fibers
Optical fibers are the backbone of today’s global telecommunication infrastructure, while photons are excellent carriers of quantum information. Hence, networks based on quantum nodes connected by optical fibers are a promising platform for the development of quantum communication.
Other photonic technologies, such as- cavity-enhanced spectroscopy,
- cavity optomechanics,
- trapping and near-field irradiation of atoms and ions,
The Bonn Fiber Lab
The Bonn Fiber Lab provides fiber micromachining technology, 3D direct laser writing capability, metallization and coating services, and custom-made prototypes of fiber cavities and other modified fibers for the participating research groups, for other research groups in Bonn, for the ML4Q excellence cluster (by which the Bonn Fiber Lab is also funded), and for collaborating groups around the world.
Products and applications
Out of standard optical fiber we manufacture miniature optical cavities, lensed fibers, optomechanical resonators and antennae.
Equipment and capabilities
Our devices for fiber micromachining, 3D nanoprinting, and precision cleaving and splicing of optical fibers.
Publications
From quantum communication to trace gas spectroscopy and optomechanical coupling, see the research fueled by the Bonn FiberLab.
Research Group Nonlinear Quantum Optics
Prof. Dr. Sebastian Hofferberth,
Institute of Applied Physics, University of Bonn
Research Group Experimental Quantum Physics
Prof. Dr. Michael Köhl,
Physikalisches Institut, University of Bonn
Nanophotonics Research
Group
Prof. Dr. Stefan Linden,
Physikalisches Institut, University of Bonn
In this project on micromechanical resonators inside fiber Fabry-Perot cavities, fiber mirrors from the Bonn Fiber Lab are combined with suspended mechanical semiconductor membranes above a DBR substrate as quantum-limited optomechanical sensors and for controlling mechanical resonator arrays for routing of sound.
In this collaboration, miniaturized highly sensitive gas detectors using photothermal spectroscopy are developed [18]. The fiber Fabry-Perot cavities supplied by the Bonn Fiber Lab are used as high-Finesse interferometers that are then combined with a infrared laser addressing transitions of atmospheric gases to modulate its refractive index inside the cavity.
In this project we attempt to use a fiber mirror from the Bonn Fiber Lab to build a cavity with one fiber mirror, where the other microscopic mirror is levitated by the radiation pressure of photons inside the cavity.
Here, solution-filled fiber Fabry-Perot cavities from the Bonn Fiber Lab are operated in the thermally bistable regime and locked close to an instability to facilitate highly sensitive detection of free-floating single molecules.
Fiber Lab
Institut für Angewandte Physik
Wegelerstr. 8
53115 Bonn
