Nanostructured optical components: New opportunities and limitations

We report on our latest research in the field of nanostructured optical components fabricated using stack and draw technique. The concept of nanostructuring is based on the idea that the macroscopic optical properties of the system can be controlled by introduction of subwavelength elements. In some geometries even a single nanoinclusion can significantly change the performance of the device, in others incorporation of large amount of subwavelength elements justifies the usage of effective medium theory. Here, we demonstrate that nanostructurization through stack-and-draw method leads to development of fibres with carefully design birefringence and allows fabrication of elements of arbitrary effective index profiles. On the basis of Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy measurements we also discuss the impact of selective diffusion process on optical properties of considered systems and show that this mechanism can be treated either as an opportunity to extend the dispersion engineering flexibility in optical elements or as a limitation which introduces the uncertainty of the final dispersion profile of the nanostructured components.