Reconfigurable optical-force-drive chirp and delay line in micro- or nanofiber Bragg grating

The emergence of optical micro- or nanofibers (MNFs) with subwavelength diameter, which have ultralight mass and an intense light field, provides an opportunity for developing fiber-based optomechanical systems. In this study we show theoretically an optomechanical effect in silica MNF Bragg gratings (MNFBGs). The light-induced mechanical effect results in continuously distributed strain along the grating and the power-related strain introduces an optically reconfigurable chirp in the grating period. We develop optomechanical coupled-mode equations and analyze theoretically the influence of the optical-force-induced nonlinearity and chirp on the grating performance. Compared with the weak Kerr effect, the optomechanical effect dominates in the properties' evolution of MNFBGs. Significant group-velocity reduction and switching effect have been demonstrated theoretically at medium power level. This kind of optomechanical MNFBG with optically reconfigurable chirp may offer a path toward an all-optical tunable bandwidth of Bragg resonance and may lead to useful applications such as all-optical switching, optically controlled dispersion, and slow or fast light.