Optical Fiber Devices Based on Nanoscale Self-Assembly

A review of different optical fiber devices based on the Electrostatic Self-Assembly (ESA) Method is presented. With this technique it was possible to deposit coatings on the ends of cleaved optical fibers. Also, because the ESA method can control the thickness of the deposited coating on the nanometer scale, the fabrication of Fabry-Perots and microgratings as well as humidity and gas optical fiber sensors was experimentally demonstrated. In addition, the possibility of connecting some of these sensors to an optical fiber network without affecting the transmitted optical power in the communications wavelength is shown for the first time.