Abstract: A fiber optical superconducting nanowire detector with increased detector efficiency, fabricated directly on the tip of the input optical fiber. The fabrication on the tip of the fiber allows precise alignment of the detector to the fiber core, where the field mode is maximal. This construction maximizes the coupling efficiency to close to unity, without the need for complex alignment procedures, such as the need to align the input fiber with a previously fabricated device. The device includes a high-Q optical cavity, such that any photon entering the device will be reflected to and fro within the cavity numerous times, thereby increasing its chances of absorption by the nanowire structure. This is achieved by using dedicated cavity mirrors with very high reflectivity, with the meander nanowire structure contained within the cavity between the end mirrors, such that photons impinge on the nanowire structure with every traverse of the cavity.

Abstract: A fiber optical superconducting nanowire detector with increased detector efficiency, fabricated directly on the tip of the input optical fiber. The fabrication on the tip of the fiber allows precise alignment of the detector to the fiber core, where the field mode is maximal. This construction maximizes the coupling efficiency to close to unity, without the need for complex alignment procedures, such as the need to align the input fiber with a previously fabricated device. The device includes a high-Q optical cavity, such that any photon entering the device will be reflected to and fro within the cavity numerous times, thereby increasing its chances of absorption by the nanowire structure. This is achieved by using dedicated cavity mirrors with very high reflectivity, with the meander nanowire structure contained within the cavity between the end mirrors, such that photons impinge on the nanowire structure with every traverse of the cavity.

Abstract: A system for measurement of environmental parameters, using an optomechanical cavity in the end of an optical fiber. A single unmodulated CW laser excites the cavity, which has one reflective element fixed within the end of the fiber and the facing reflector being the surface of a mechanical element, supported over the cavity at the end of the fiber so that it can vibrate at its natural resonance frequency. The length of the cavity “vibrates” at the same frequency as the mechanical element, so that the light reflected from the cavity is modulated at that same frequency, and can be readily measured. The resonant frequency of the mechanical element is responsive to the environmental parameter to be measured, either by direct influence on the vibration of the mechanical element, or by means of the element's temperature change as a result of exposure to the environmental parameter.