Oral presentation at Photonics West 2019: Circular polarization from a polarization retarder 3D printed on an optical fiber

Here we present the fabrication a miniaturized polarization retarder element with a Direct Laser Writing method. A miniaturized Fresnel Rhomb, acting as a quarter-waveplate with a very broad operating bandwidth (exceeding 300 nm), has been 3D printed on a polarization maintaining optical fiber to obtain a miniaturized on-fiber broadband source of pure circularly polarized light. Our structure could find application on a remote ultra compact probe in circular dichroism and Raman Optical Activity spectroscopies but could also be used as a phase retarder for other integrated applications, where control of the polarization on small scales is needed.​