Fabrication and Applications of Metal Nanocrystals Hybridized Optical Fibers

Metal nanocrystals hybridized optical fibers (MNCs-OFs) combine the unique localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) property afforded by metal nanocrystals and the advantages of small size, simple structure, stable performance, and high resilience to disturbance of optical fibers. On the one hand, high optical nonlinearity, metal enhanced fluorescence, and surface enhanced Raman scattering, which arc caused by LSPR of metal nanocrystals, can impart optical fiber with now functionalities and bettor performance. On the other hand, evanescent wave transmitting property of optical fiber can tremendously enhance the excitation efficiency of LSPR of metal nanocrystals. Therefore, MNCs-OFs arc very useful in many applications such as optical tuning, fiber laser, physical/biochemical sensing and detection, which have drawn extensive research interests. Here, we make a brief review to the LSPR mechanism of metal nanocrystals and the fabrication and applications of MNCs-OFs, and provide a prospect to the future development of this type of optical fibers.