Research topic

My current projects focus on develop novel light cages with special functionalities such as polarization control and angular momentum generation. With strong collaborations with various research groups across Europe and Asia, we're aiming to demonstrate applications of light cage such as bioanalytics, photo-acoustic spectroscopy and quantum information processing.

Light cage

Two decades of study in light guiding mechanisms in low-index materials has been evolved in the area of hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCFs). HC-PCFs with complex cladding geometry provide near 100% spatial overlapping between guided electromagnetic field and low-index core region. The realization of these mechanisms on chip was hindered by the 3D cladding structures which could not be fabricated by planar technologies. The recent advancement in microscale 3D printing technology on chip has opened up possibilities for fabrication of various 3D devices including microstructured optical waveguides. Recently, we have reported a 3D printed hollow-core waveguide 'Light cage' which has a high fraction of field in hollow-core (>99%) and an open waveguide geometry. A ring of high-aspect-ratio cylinders encompassing an air core was fabricated using a commercial two-photon polymerization lithography system (Photonic Professional GT, Nanoscribe GmbH). The open space between the strands allows surrounding materials to freely approach the core. The transmission spectrum of light cage consists of broad high transmission windows (from visible to near-IR) with lossy resonances in between.