Nanophotonics and optical fibers: New avenues for sensing and active devices

Rapid development in electronic and optical devices has unequivocally eased human life to an appreciable extent, which, however, involved lots of hard work in the miniaturization of technology. The continual fabrication and characterization of devices in the field of spectroscopy, security/imaging, information technology, nanophotonics, opticalfiber-based devices, photodetectors, etc. is going on in full swing. By citing exemplary instances, this article comprehensively shows various applications based on nanophotonics and optical fiber technologies. This article focuses on the recent advancements in the field of nanophotonics and optical fiber to use them in sensing and active devices. Initiating with an overview of the recent areas of research, design, and implementation of nanophotonics and optical fiber, the paper discusses the instrumentation used for fabricating and characterization of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based fiber optic refractive index sensor and visible photodetector furnished by cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanostructures. The fabricated CdS nanostructures were characterized using XRD, Raman, SEM, UV–vis and photoluminescence spectroscopic techniques so as to obtain the required/favourable properties for the realization of fiber-optic refractive index sensing device employing SPR technique and for visible photodetection applications. The performance parameters of both the fabricated devices were also evaluated and explained in detail. Lastly, the paper outlines the limitations, challenges as well as available opportunities in this avenue.