Study of self-heated tapered silica microfibers by laser in air

\nWe present measurements of the temperature of optical microfibers self-heated by a cw laser emitting at 1.48 μm. The experimental method we have implemented is simple and enables to perform for the first time to our knowledge spatially distributed measurements along the tapers and the microfiber part. Temperature rise of more than 20 °C is measured for moderate powers (200 mW) and relatively large radii (1.45 μm). The results are confronted to a numerical model we have developed and enable to determine range of values for the couple thermal transfer coefficient/surface absorption coefficient.\n