Physics Viewpoint

Take a look at physics.aps.org for my Viewpoint article on Efficient All-Optical Switching Using Slow Light within a Hollow Fiber by Bajcsy et al. The work demonstrates an all-optical switch that was built by inserting cold Rubidium atoms into the hollow core of a photonic-crystal fiber. These fibers have been used in a wide range of nonlinear optics experiments and this is yet another interesting application.

Fimo fractals and fancy fiber

Evilmadscientist has a well-documented project on drawing (stretching, not sketching) fimo into fractal patterns. You can start with a set of four triangular rods, stacked together into one larger triangle, strech them out to make them skinny, stack them in with four other similar assemblies, and iterate to make fractals. Aside from the fractal part, this technique is identical to how photonic crystal fibers (PCF) are formed, which got me thinking…