Wang Yunqi, Wang Yang, Zhu Hong, You Chunyu, Zong Yang, Zheng Zhi, Dong Xiang, Hu Yuhang, Chen Xiangzhong, Song Enming, Cui Jizhai, Huang Gaoshan, Mei Yongfeng
Department of Materials Science & International Institute for Intelligent Nanorobots and Nanosystems & State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, PR China.
Yiwu Research Institute of Fudan University, Yiwu, 322000, Zhejiang, PR China.
Nat Commun. 2025 Sep 25;16(1):8413. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-63562-4.
Integrating materials onto optical fibers, enabling optical signal tuning during low-loss light transmission, is essential in optical communications, biosensors, and implantable devices. Such tuning, based on light-matter interaction, requires tight physical and optical contact between materials and fibers. However, large surface curvature (>10 m) of fiber makes it challenging for most materials to transfer onto fibers with tight contact, due to insufficient small-range forces. This induces weak light-matter interaction and ineffective optical coupling. Here, we propose a general strategy for conformal integration of nanomembranes-including metals, oxides, semiconductors, and polymers-onto microfibers. This integration relies on engineered elastic and surface energies between nanomembranes and fibers, enabling tight wrapping. We demonstrate homogeneous and inhomogeneous nanomembranes conformally integrated on microfibers, which are further developed into sensors, modulators, filters, and photodetectors as plug-and-play devices. Our study provides a versatile platform for integrating multifunctional materials on fibers, enabling health monitoring and on-fiber photonic computing.
将材料集成到光纤上，以便在低损耗光传输过程中实现光信号调谐，这在光通信、生物传感器和可植入设备中至关重要。这种基于光与物质相互作用的调谐要求材料与光纤之间有紧密的物理和光学接触。然而，光纤的大表面曲率（>10米）使得大多数材料难以紧密接触地转移到光纤上，因为小范围力不足。这会导致弱的光与物质相互作用和无效的光耦合。在此，我们提出了一种将纳米膜（包括金属、氧化物、半导体和聚合物）共形集成到微光纤上的通用策略。这种集成依赖于纳米膜与光纤之间设计的弹性和表面能，从而实现紧密包裹。我们展示了共形集成在微光纤上的均匀和非均匀纳米膜，这些纳米膜进一步被开发成即插即用的传感器、调制器、滤波器和光电探测器。我们的研究为在光纤上集成多功能材料提供了一个通用平台，实现了健康监测和光纤光子计算。
