The observation of comblike transmission spectrum from a tapered single mode fiber tip

Tapered fiber tips are fabricated by the fast stretching of a heated single mode fiber until it breaks. As the fiber tip diameter decreases, the propagation mode converts from the single core mode to a few cladding modes. The cladding modes are then emitted from the fiber tip and interfere with each other in the near field. Along the propagation direction, the optical field is found to be modulated due to multibeam interferences. Interestingly, broadband transmission spectrums show equidistant comblike peaks. A tunable spatial filter based on a fiber tip is realized to reshape a broadband light source. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.