Longitudinal coupling effect in microfiber Bragg gratings

We theoretically present longitudinal coupling effect (LCE) in air-cladding microfiber Bragg gratings (MFBGs). Distinct from conventional weakly-guiding optical fibers, large longitudinal electric field (Ez) exists in wavelength-scale microfibers. Due to LCE, MFBG reflectivity can be reduced by more than 30% within the band-gap and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) is obviously narrowed. This theoretical analytical work is instructive to precisely design and fabricate MFBGs that are promising in the areas of optical sensing and nanophotonics.