Soft glass microstructured optical fibres: Recent progress in fabrication and opportunities for novel optical devices

This paper reviews recent progress in the fabrication of soft glass microstructured optical fibres with nanowire core sizes, with nanoscale holes in the fibre core itself and with large mode areas. We demonstrate the potential of these fibres for a wide range of applications including high optical nonlinearity, bio/chemical sensing, high-resolution imaging and nano-lithography, mid-infrared high power generation and delivery.