Natural Silk as a Photonics Component: a Study on Its Light Guiding and Nonlinear Optical Properties.

ABSTRACT: Silk fibers are expected to become a pathway to biocompatible and bioresorbable waveguides, which could be used to deliver localized optical power for various applications, e.g., optical therapy or imaging inside living tissue. Here, for the first time, the linear and nonlinear optical properties of natural silk fibers have been studied. The waveguiding properties of silk fibroin of largely unprocessed Bombyx mori silkworm silk are assessed using two complementary methods, and found to be on the average 2.8 dB mm(-1). The waveguide losses of degummed silk are to a large extent due to scattering from debris on fiber surface and helical twisting of the fiber. Nonlinear optical microscopy reveals both configurational defects such as torsional twisting, and strong symmetry breaking at the cent

SUBMITTER: Kujala S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4772132 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature