Realization of All-in-Fiber Liquid-Core Microstructured Optical Fiber

We present an approach for manufacturing liquid-core microstructured optical fiber (MOF) with an all-in-fiber configuration. The MOF is first fusion-spliced with conventional fiber pigtails, with channels left open at the spliced interfaces to allow filling. After liquid filling, the channels are sealed by adhesives to prevent evaporation of the liquid. To verify the efficacy of this method, we filled a simplified hollow-core MOF (SHC-MOF) with a solution of aqueous quantum dots, and the temperature characteristics of the filled SHC-MOF were measured. The fluorescent peak wavelength and intensity changed reversibly over 48 h of repeated temperature cycling, indicating that the all-in-fiber configuration of the integrated liquid-core SHC-MOF has long-term stability and that the evaporation of the filling solution is minimal.