Multimaterial disc-to-fiber approach to efficiently produce robust infrared fibers

A critical challenge in the fabrication of chalcogenide-glass infrared optical fibers is the need for first producing large volumes of high-purity glass - a formidable task, particularly in the case of multicomponent glasses. We describe here a procedure based on multimaterial coextrusion of a hybri...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Optical materials express 2014-10, Vol.4 (10), p.2143-2149
Main Authors: Tao, Guangming, Shabahang, Soroush, Dai, Shixun, Abouraddy, Ayman F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astronomy
Coextrusion
Fibers
Glass
Infrared
Optical fibers
Preforms
Tasks
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Summary:A critical challenge in the fabrication of chalcogenide-glass infrared optical fibers is the need for first producing large volumes of high-purity glass - a formidable task, particularly in the case of multicomponent glasses. We describe here a procedure based on multimaterial coextrusion of a hybrid glass-polymer preform from which extended lengths of robust infrared fibers are readily drawn. Only ~2 g of glass is required to produce 46 m of step-index fiber with core diameters in the range 10 - 18 mu m. This process enables rapid prototyping of a variety of glasses for applications in the delivery of quantum cascade laser light, spectroscopy, sensing, and astronomy.
ISSN:2159-3930
2159-3930
DOI:10.1364/OME.4.002143