Who needs a cathode? Creating a second-order nonlinearity by charging glass fiber with two anodes

We report that it is possible to create a fiber electret by having both internal electrodes of a twin-hole fiber at the same anodic potential, i.e., without the use of a contacted cathode electrode. We find that a stronger and more temperature-stable charge distribution results when the fiber core is subjected to an external field near zero. Negative charges from the air surrounding the fiber are sufficient for the recording of an electric field across the core of the fiber that is twice stronger than when one anode and one cathode electrode are used. The enhancement in stability and in the strength of the effective chi((2)) induced are a significant step towards the wider use of fibers with a second order optical nonlinearity.