Building semiconductor structures in optical fiber

A team of researchers from Pennsylvania State University and University of Southampton demonstrated that long semiconductor and metal tubes, wires and heterojunctions can be fabricated inside optical fibers via a deposition process similar to that used for modern planar electronic devices. The new approach opens the possibility for directly combining the flexible waveguiding capabilities of an optical fiber and the exceptional capabilities of semiconductors and metals for manipulating optical radiation and electrons. A field effect transistor composed of crystalline germanium inside a fiber has been made as a proof of principle demonstration. The device suggests the possibility of integrating many of the functions performed by planar optoelectronics into fiber.