We demonstrate a fiber-optical switch that operates with a few hundred pho-tons per switching pulse. The light-light interaction is mediated by laser-cooled atoms. The required strong interaction between atoms and light is achieved by simultaneously confining photons and atoms inside the microscopic hollow core of a single-mode photonic-crystal fiber.

We demonstrate a universal polarization controller for hollow-core fibers, a simple device consisting of three twisted fiber sections that makes use of the inherent birefringence of the air-core fiber. The device 5% bandwidth at 1550 nm is calculated from measured data to be approximately 13 nm.

Hollow core fibers are considered as promising candidates to deliver intense temporally overlapping picosecond pulses in applications such as stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy and endoscopy because of their inherent low nonlinearity compared to solid-core silica fibers. Here we demonstrate that, contrary to prior assumptions, parasitic signals are generated in Kagomé lattice hollow c...

A flexible and coherent bundle of hollow optical fibers was fabricated for infrared thermal imaging. For acquisition of thermal images, differences in the transmission efficiency among the fibers were numerically compensated to obtain high temperature resolution of 1°C for measuring body temperature. In a lens system with 10-fold magnification and hollow fibers of 320-μm inner diameter, the spa...

Femtosecond laser drilling is used to produce a variablepressure fiber gas cell. Tightly focused laser pulses are used to produce micrometer-diameter radial channels in a hollow-core photonic band-gap fiber (HC-PBGF), and through these microchannels the core of the fiber is filled with a gas. The fiber cell is formed by fusion splicing and sealing the ends of the HC-PBGF to standard step-index ...

We analyze the higher-order core mode content in various designs of antiresonant hollow core fibers using spatially and spectrally resolved imaging. Hollow core fibers have great potential for a variety of applications, and understanding their mode content is crucial for many of these. Two different designs of hollow core fibers are considered, the first with eight nontouching rings and the sec...

We present the nonlinear self-compression of pulses from a high repetition rate thuliumdoped fiber laser system using a gas-filled antiresonant hollow-core fiber. Sub-3-cycle pulses with several GW peak power at 21.4 W of average power have been generated. OCIS codes: (140.3070) IR and far-IR lasers; (320.5520) Pulse compression; (340.7480) X-rays, soft x-rays, (EUV)

We describe a silica hollow-core fiber for mid-infrared transmission with a minimum attenuation of 34 dB/km at 3050 nm wavelength. The design is based on the use of a negative curvature core wall. Similar fiber designed for longer wavelengths has a transmission band extending beyond 4 µm.