Optical properties of small-bore hollow glass waveguides

Hollow glass waveguides with a 250-μm i.d. have been fabricated with a liquid-phase deposition technique that uses silica tubing as a base material. The losses of the 250-μm-bore guide measured at CO(2) laser wavelengths are as low as 2.0 dB/m. The straight losses for the hollow guides are in good agreement with theoretically predicted losses as a result of the nearly ideal structure of the guides. It is also shown that the guides have low bending losses, a nearly pure-mode delivery, and good high-power laser transmission. By proper design of the dielectric thickness, the guide is also able to deliver Er:YAG laser energy with a low loss of 1.2 dB/m for the 320-μm-bore waveguide. Because the hollow glass waveguide is very flexible and robust, it is quite suitable for medical applications.     

Thermooptic coupler for multimode optical fibers

The detailed theory is presented together with design considerations and recent experimental results for an electronically controllable directional coupler for multimode optical fibers. The device, based on plastic-clad silica fiber, is of exceptionally simple construction and compact size and is highly reliable. A theoretical model of the coupler is described and compared with actual device performance. The coupling can be varied from -4 to -28 dB with an excess loss of <0.2 dB over the entire coupling range, in agreement with theory. Improvements in the present device design are also discussed.     

Bidirectional optical coupler for plastic optical fibers

We have developed a low-loss bidirectional optical coupler for high-speed optical communication with plastic optical fibers (POFs). The coupler, which is fabricated by an injection molding method that uses poly (methyl methacrylate), has an antisymmetric tapered shape. We show that the coupler has low insertion and branching losses. The tapered shape of the receiving branch reduces beam diameter and increases detection efficiency coupling to a photodetector, whose area is smaller than that of the plastic optical fiber. The possibility of more than 15-m bidirectional transmission with a signaling bit rate up to 500 Mbits/s for simplex step-index POFs is demonstrated.     

Sulfide glass fibers for infrared transmission

Germanium sulfide glasses were drawn into fibers with optical losses lower than 1 dB/m. The glass fibers were coated with Teflon FEP or silicone resin according to their thermal properties. Loss increase caused by coating was not observed. The main problems in obtaining low-loss fibers were investigated. Sulphur evolution in fiber drawing was avoided by choosing the appropriate glass compositions and drawing conditions, OH and SH impurities were reduced to $\text{1}\text{4}$ of initial values using the S₂Cl₂ chemical reaction with water at 400–600°C. The possibility of ultra-low loss fibers using sulfide glasses is discussed in terms of intrinsic losses and impurity-related absorption losses.     

Connectors, splices, and couplers for infrared transmitting optical fibers

Connectors, splices, and couplers are widely used in silica optical fiber systems. Until now they have not been developed for mid-infrared fibers, in spite of the recognized need for such elements in many applications such as spectroscopy, radiometry, and heterodyne detection. We describe the construction and the optical and mechanical properties of such optical components for infrared transmitting silver halide optical fibers.     

Metal-covered photonic bandgap multilayer for infrared hollow waveguides

Infrared hollow waveguides utilizing a dielectric multilayer are examined by use of a photonic bandgap theory. It is shown that, in the waveguide consisting of quarter-wave film stack, the act of covering the dielectric films with a metal layer is effective in the reduction of the number of film layers. To verify the effect of this design, we fabricated a prototype waveguide with three dielectric layers of SiO2/Ta2O5/SiO2 and a silver layer by using a liquid-phase coating technique. From the loss spectrum of the fabricated waveguide, it is confirmed that, as designed, the waveguide shows wideband low-loss property at the wavelength of Nd:YAG laser light 1.06 microm.     

Theory of infrared microspectroscopy for intact fibers

Infrared microspectroscopy is widely used for the chemical analysis of small samples. In particular, spectral properties of small cylindrical samples are important in forensic analysis, understanding relationships between microstructure and mechanical properties in fibers or fiber composites, and development of cosmetics and drugs for hair. The diameters of the constituent cylinders are typically of the order of the central wavelength of light used to probe the sample. Hence, structure and material spectral response are coupled and recorded spectra are usually distorted to the extent of becoming useless for molecular identification. In this paper, we apply rigorous optical theory to predict the spectral distortions observed in IR microspectroscopic data of fibers. The theory is used, first, to compute the changes that are observed for cylinders of various dimensions under different instrument configurations when compared to the bulk spectrum from the same material. We provide a method to recover intrinsic material spectral response from fibers by correcting for distortion introduced by the cylindrical structure. The theory reported here should enable the routine use of IR microspectroscopy and imaging for the molecular analysis of cylindrical domains in complex materials.     

空心锥状气相生长碳纤维的微观结构

以甲烷为碳源,硫酸亚铁为催化剂前驱体,通过化学气相沉积在石墨基板上制得了空心锥状炭纤维.采用扫描电子显微镜、X射线衍射、激光拉曼光谱、热失重等分析手段,以平直炭纤维为参照,对比研究了空心锥状炭纤维的微观结构特征.实验结果表明:空心锥状炭纤维由众多空心锥并串联而成,单个空心锥底面直径约1μm,锥高为几百nm;径向平面内三个底面直径约1μm,空心锥呈三角形紧密挟接;轴向方向相邻空心锥由单根纤维连接,形成的单束空心锥状炭纤维直径为约2～3 μm.与平直炭纤维相比,空心锥状炭纤维微观结构有序度较高,层间距较小,微晶尺寸较大.     

Optical properties of end-sealed hollow fibers

We propose sealing techniques for medical hollow fibers to protect the inner surface of fibers from debris or water that scatters from targets. First, hollow fibers are sealed with a film of polymer that is easily formed by use of a dipping technique. The transmission loss of 20-microm-thick sealing film was 0.2 dB for Er:YAG laser light, and the maximum energy that is available for the film was 180 mJ. Second, a sealed glass cap was applied to the output end of hollow fiber. The silica-glass cap with a wall thickness of 400 microm shows a transmission loss of 0.5 dB and was not damaged by radiation of 400-mJ energy pulses.     

Use of hollow core fibers, fiber lasers, and photonic crystal fibers for spark delivery and laser ignition in gases

The fiber-optic delivery of sparks in gases is challenging as the output beam must be refocused to high intensity (approximately 200 GW/cm(2) for nanosecond pulses). Analysis suggests the use of coated hollow core fibers, fiber lasers, and photonic crystal fibers (PCFs). We study the effects of launch conditions and bending for 2 m long coated hollow fibers and find an optimum launch f# of approximately 55 allowing spark formation with approximately 98% reliability for bends up to a radius of curvature of 1.5 m in atmospheric pressure air. Spark formation using the output of a pulsed fiber laser is described, and delivery of 0.55 mJ pulses through PCFs is shown.     

Cyclic olefin polymer-coated silver hollow glass waveguides for the infrared

Cyclic olefin polymer (COP) is newly used as the inner dielectric of infrared, hollow glass waveguides because of its low extinction coefficient in the mid-infrared region. A liquid-flow coating and dry-cure process are employed to form the COP layer on the inside of a silver-coated hollow glass tube. In the coating process, cyclohexane is chosen as the solvent of COP to form a smooth and uniform COP layer. It is shown that COP-coated silver hollow glass waveguides show low loss properties for CO(2), CO, and Er:YAG laser light when the thickness of the COP layer is properly chosen.     

Optical transmission of hollow glass photonic-crystal fibers

A photonic-crystal fiber (PCF) with a forbidden photon band (FPB) in the visible spectral range has been created for the first time. The PCF shell comprises concentric layers of hollow circular air-filled channels with variable diameters. The optical transmission of the proposed PCF and the influence of the geometric parameters on the FPB width and position in the visible spectral range have been studied. By varying the PCF structure and geometry, it is possible to change the FPB characteristics, which offers broad possibilities of output light control.     

Silver halide photonic crystal fibers for the middle infrared

Photonic crystal fibers are normally holey silica fibers, which are opaque in the mid- and far-infrared. We have fabricated novel fibers by multiple extrusions of silver halide crystalline materials, which are highly transparent in the mid-infrared. These fibers are composed of two solid materials; The core consists of pure AgBr, and the cladding includes AgCl fiberoptic elements arranged in two concentric hexagonal rings around the core. Flexible fibers of outer diameter 1 mm and length of approximately 1 m were fabricated, and their optical properties were measured. These fibers exhibited core-clad behavior and would be extremely useful for IR laser power transmission, IR radiometry, and IR spectroscopy.     

Observation of hollow helical fibers of MCM-41

Helical MCM-41 hollow fiber with circular inner cavity, helical mesoporous channels and twisted hexagonal outer contour was observed for the first time. The hollow fiber wall is supposed to be composed of layers of helical meso-channels winding around the fiber axis. Furthermore, the helical pitches of these meso-channels may increase gradually depending on their winding radii, giving rise to zigzag fringes along the fiber axis in TEM micrographs. The growth of helical hollow fibers may start from a circular hollow fiber, and be followed by side growth of layers of helical meso-channels with varying pitches from inner side to outer side of the fiber.     

Suspended core tellurite glass optical fibers for infrared supercontinuum generation

We report the fabrication and characterization of tellurite TeO₂-ZnO-Na₂O (TZN) microstructured suspended core optical fibers (MOFs). These fibers are designed for infrared supercontinuum generation with zero dispersion wavelength (ZDW) at 1.45 μm. The measured losses at this wavelength are approximately 6 dB/m for a MOF with a 2.2 μm diameter core. The effective area of a particular fiber is 3.5 μm² and the nonlinear coefficient is calculated to be 437 W⁻¹km⁻¹. By pumping a 20 cm long fiber at 1.56 μm with a sub-nJ femtosecond laser source, we generate a supercontinuum (SC) spanning over 800 nm in the 1-2 μm wavelength range.     

氮掺杂空心碳纤维用作高性能钾离子电池自支撑负极材料

本文报道了一种具有多级结构(氮掺杂团簇复合中空碳纤维)、高可逆容量的钾离子电池负极材料(NHCF@NCC).该电极材料以多孔氮掺杂中空碳纤维为骨架,具有大比表面积,可有效地缩短钾离子的扩散距离,增加电极材料与电解质的接触界面.另外,附着在中空碳纤维上的不规则的氮掺杂团簇可以提供更多的反应活性位点.由于碳纤维高的纵横比,...     

High-cycle fatigue of silver halide infrared fibers

The transmission of CO(2) laser radiation by silver halide infrared fibers was measured during cyclic bending of the fibers. High-cycle fatigue of the fibers was investigated. The fibers were found to transmit without significant deterioration after more than 10(7) cycles. The fatigue-stress limit, based on 10(7) bending cycles, was estimated to be approximately 75 MPa.