Femtosecond laser tuning of optical fibers containing nanoparticles

New types of fibers containing nanoparticles in their cores, thus showing enhanced scattering properties, have been recently developed for applications in lasers and sensors. The control over the nanoparticles characteristics is currently limited by the manufacturing process. To achieve a much better control over the scattering properties, we use a femtosecond laser to locally heat the core of the fiber and modulate on purpose the characteristics of the nanoparticles.