Hollow-waveguide delivery systems for high-power, industrial CO(2) lasers

Hollow-sapphire and metal-dielectric-coated hollow-glass waveguides have been used to deliver CO(2) laser power for industrial laser applications. The transmission, bending loss, and output-beam properties of these waveguides are described. The bore sizes of the hollow-sapphire waveguides were 1070 and 790 μm, and the hollow-glass waveguide had a bore of 700 μm. The waveguides ranged in length from 1.1 to 1.5 m. The sapphire waveguides were bent to 90°, and the hollow-glass waveguides were bent into a full 360° loop. We delivered a maximum of 1.8 kW through the 1070-μm-bore sapphire waveguide and 1.0 kW through the hollow-glass waveguide. All the hollow waveguides incorporated a water jacket to prevent overheating.     

Tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy in coiled hollow optical waveguides

We demonstrate tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy of CO2 and NH3 near 1.5 microm using a distributed feedback diode laser in conjunction with hollow optical waveguides as long-path sample cells. The waveguides are coiled to reduce the physical extent of the system. The small volume of the waveguide provides rapid instrument response to changes in gas concentration. To reduce the pressure drop associated with long lengths and high flow rates, we perforate the waveguides in a novel geometry providing parallel pneumatic paths while maintaining optical path length. A minimum detectable absorbance of 3.5 x 10(-5) in a 3-m section of waveguide is demonstrated.     

Polarization behaviour of femtosecond laser written waveguides in lithium niobate

In this work, we analysed the polarization of guided light in femtosecond laser written waveguides. The studied waveguides were performed with different laser pulse energies in an x-cut lithium niobate crystal. The guided intensities were experimentally measured and compared with numerical simulations reaching a qualitatively good accordance. This comparison allowed a verification of the “mechanical expansion theory” which is useful to compute the refractive index field. Also, information related to the modelling of waveguides generated with different laser pulse energies was obtained. Both of these facts are keys to design and manufacture optical circuits by using this technological approach.     

Fabrication of waveguides in sputtered films of GeAsSe glass via photodarkening with above bandgap light

We have fabricated and characterized waveguides in thin films of Ge₅As₃₄Se₆₁ glass sputtered onto silicon wafer substrates. The 5-μm width waveguides were fabricated by exposure to 514.5 nm light from an Ar³⁺ laser, with a lithographic exposure mask used to provide the lateral patterning for the waveguides. The measured losses of the waveguides ranged from 3.5 to 6.4 dB/cm. From SEM imaging, we concluded that scattering from microcracks at the glass–substrate interface was the dominant source of loss.     

AgI-coated silver-clad stainless steel hollow waveguides for infrared lightwave transmission and their applications

We fabricated silver iodide (AgI)-coated silver hollow waveguides to transmit a wide range of infrared (IR) light. Silver-clad stainless steel pipes were used as a supporting pipe. Since this type of metallic hollow waveguide has high mechanical strength and heat resistance, it is suitable as a rigid lightwave probe for various applications such as dental or medical laser treatment, IR spectroscopy, thermal radiometry, and laser processing. Considering these applications, we estimated the hollow waveguides with different thicknesses of the AgI layer. By optimizing the AgI layer thickness according to the wavelength of propagating light, we succeeded in efficiently transmitting Er-YAG and CO(2) laser light. We also studied the optical characteristics of a wide range of incoherent light for IR spectroscopy and radiometry applications using these metallic hollow waveguides as lightwave probes.     

Inorganic–Organic Hybrid Polymers for Information Technology: from Planar Technology to 3D Nanostructures

Sol‐gel synthesis allows inorganic–organic hybrid polymer materials (ORMOCER®s) to be produced, which can be functionalized to tailor their physical and chemical properties such as refractive index or optical loss. A particular material system is discussed here, which is synthesized without addition of water and is applied in optical communications. As examples for 2D and 2.5D technology, planar waveguides, stacked waveguides, and microlenses are shown. Using two‐photon polymerization initiated by femtosecond laser pulses, arbitrary 3D structures can be made in the submicrometer range. In particular, 3D photonic crystal structures are described and discussed.     

溶胶-凝胶法制备全反射型CO2激光空芯波导的可行性分析

通过对CO2激光空芯导研究现状的分析,指出了全拓射型空芯导目前所面临的问题,在此基础上结合溶胶－凝胶法的特点,提出了用溶胶－凝胶法制备全反射型CO2激光空芯波导反常色散膜的新思想,并分析了其在原理、工艺及光学上的可行性。     

Efficiency shifts of prism coupling into polymer waveguides subject to environmental variations

The effect of changing environmental conditions on the coupling efficiency of a prism–film coupler is studied for polymer waveguides. A large shift of the coupling efficiency is observed subject to environmental changes. Two processes, change of water content and loss of residual solvent in the polymer waveguides, lead to the efficiency change of the prism coupler. Experimental results show that the index change in the waveguide film is the dominant reason behind the efficiency change. Variation of water content in polymer material is the key contribution to the index change.     

Infrared transmissive, hollow plastic waveguides with inner Ag-Agl coatings

Hollow polycarbonate waveguides with thin-film coatings of Ag-AgI were fabricated by liquid-phase chemistry methods. These hollow waveguides, which have bore sizes ranging from 500 to 2000 microm and lengths as long as 2 m, are transmissive from 2 to more than 20 microm. The lowest loss of 0.02 dB/m was obtained for a straight 2000 microm bore guide at 10.6 microm. This is to our knowledge the lowest loss measured for any IR fiber at CO2 laser wavelengths. The bending losses were found to increase as 1/R, where R is the radius of the bend. These waveguides were able to withstand 18 W of CO2 laser input power for bore sizes greater than 1000 microm.     

Broadband flexible waveguides for free-electron laser radiation

We refined flexible waveguides previously developed for CO(2) and Er:YAG laser radiation to transmit free-electron-laser (FEL) radiation. One can tune this laser over several segments of the radiation spectrum. This laser has a high peak power of as much as 10 MW with pulse energy of as much as 100 mJ. We made the waveguides of either Teflon or fused-silica tubes internally coated with metal and dielectric layers. We optimized the internal coatings specifications for transmission of various radiation wavelengths in the mid-IR range and enabled transmission of high-peak radiation. We performed experiments in three major FEL sites in the United States over a more than 1-year period when we measured and examined various characteristics of transmission. We used the analysis of these experiments as feedback to further improve these waveguides. The good preliminary results encourage us to invest more effort to further develop these waveguides until a suitable waveguide is obtained for this type of laser and make possible its introduction to the medical field where its characteristics can be exploited in surgical applications.     

Optical properties of waveguides fabricated in fused silica by femtosecond laser pulses

With tightly focused femtosecond laser pulses, waveguides are fabricated in fused silica. The guiding and attenuation properties of these waveguides at wavelengths of 514 nm and 1.5 microm are studied. We demonstrate that by changing only the writing speed, waveguides with a controllable mode number can be produced.     

Liquid phase epitaxy: A versatile technique for the development of miniature optical components in single crystal dielectric media

In this paper we will review the possibilities of liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) as a versatile technique for the development of new miniature optical components in single crystal dielectric media. These LPE layers can be used in active waveguide configuration as laser or amplifier sources or in transverse configuration as saturable absorber deposited on an active layer. So in the first part of this paper, we will present the LPE process by describing the growth conditions of rare earths doped YAG layers and by discussing the properties obtained in laser planar waveguides. In a second part, we will discuss some other applications, as amplifiers or saturable absorbers, using LPE layers. In the third and last part, we will present the interest of LPE for other materials, used as laser waveguides.     

Characteristics of polymeric optical passive single-mode waveguiding devices fabricated by an argon-ion laser

The fabrication of polymeric single-mode Gaussian profile optical waveguides is described. We used poly(methyl methacrylate) and a mixture of two intermiscible monomers for the cladding and the core, respectively, of the waveguides. The cores of the waveguides were fabricated by with an argon-ion laser beam. The waveguides had single-mode Gaussian refractive-index profiles. By using such waveguides, we fabricated directional couplers for power coupling to the adjacent waveguides and also parallel waveguide arrays for preventing power coupling to adjacent waveguides for use in interconnect chips. We analyzed the characteristics of these couplers by using the coupled-mode theory and compared the results with those obtained with the beam propagation method. Experimental results showed good correlation with the theoretical values. We designed optical bus arrays for interconnect chips, considering the variation of normalized frequency V, the power penalty, and the dimensions of the waveguides and the separation between them. The number of waveguides in the bus array increased with increasing V. For a known value of V, a waveguide's density increases with a decrease of its dimensions. The theoretical maximum number of waveguides is ~1490/cm and ~846/cm for 2 mum x 2 mum and 4 mum x 4 mum single-mode waveguides, respectively, to satisfy a 1-dB power penalty criterion at bit-error rate of 10(-9). We fabricated interconnect bus arrays with fifteen 4 mum x 4 mum waveguides for a 3-cm coupling length, and the experimental results were verified to be in good agreement with the theoretical values.     

Continuous-wave lasing at 1.06 μm in femtosecond laser written Nd:KGW waveguides

We report on the buried channel waveguide laser at 1065 nm in Nd:KGW waveguides fabricated by femtosecond laser writing with dual-line approach. A relatively high scanning speed of 0.5 mm/s enables acceptable propagation loss less than 2 dB/cm. The fluorescence emission spectra of Nd³⁺ ions measured shows that the fluorescence properties were well preserved in the waveguide region. A stable continuous wave laser at 1065 nm has been obtained at room temperature in the buried channel waveguides by optical pumping at 808 nm. A maximum output power of 33 mW and a slope efficiency of 52.3% were achieved in the Nd:KGW waveguide laser system.     

The properties of InGaAsP/InP heterolasers with step-divergent waveguides

InGaAsP/InP laser heterostructures with step-divergent waveguides and two stressed quantum wells were obtained by metalorganic VPE. The lasers emitting at 1.55 μm provide for an intrinsic quantum yield of η_i=85%. An optical power of 5.2 W in the continuous operation mode was achieved at a laser diode temperature of 10°C. The internal optical losses in the laser heterostructure studied amount to 3.6 cm⁻¹, which is comparable with the level of losses in similar structures with uniform divergent waveguides.     

Planar fabrication process of a high-coupling-efficiency interface between optical waveguides of large index difference

A high-coupling-efficiency interface connecting two optical waveguides of large index difference is reported. Both theoretical analysis and an experimental study were performed. High coupling efficiency is achieved by matching the mode profiles in two waveguides as well as connecting the waveguides with an antireflection (AR) section. Analysis shows a coupling efficiency as high as 98% between glass-SiO(2) and Ga(0.72)Al(0.28)As-Ga(0.59)Al(0.41)As waveguides with an AR section of TiO(2). An index difference of 1.8 for the TE(0) mode between these two waveguides is obtained. To implement the glass-SiO(2) waveguide with an AR section in the host AlGaAs waveguide, a new quadrilevel photomasking and lift-off process is developed. A coupling efficiency of 83% was measured for the TE(0) mode at the 1.15-μm wavelength, a very high value considering the large index difference (1.75) between the two waveguides that were connected. The design concept and the fabrication process developed should facilitate efficient integration of low- and high-index waveguides on the same substrate to produce a greater variety of photonic devices and modules.     

介质(Ag/AgI)镀层空芯玻璃光纤的制备及红外传输性能的研究

介质（Ａｇ／ＡｇＩ）镀层空芯玻璃光纤是一种较好的传输红外激光的柔性光纤材料．采用液相化学沉积法成功地制备了内径分别为１．０、０．５３、０．３２ｍｍ,长度为１．５ｍ的介质（Ａｇ／ＡｇＩ）镀层玻璃空芯光纤．利用傅里叶红外光谱仪和 ＬＪＬ－３５Ａ ＣＯ_２激光器分别测试了介质（Ａｇ／ＡｇＩ）镀层玻璃空芯光纤的传输损耗,测试结果表明：介质（Ａｇ／ＡｇＩ）镀层空芯玻璃光纤在２．５～２０μｍ波长范围内有较低的损耗值;随着光纤内径（α）的增大,空芯光纤的传输损耗（α）降低,这与Ｍｉｇａｇｉ理论（α　∝１／α^３）相符合．另外,由于光纤的注入端头发热致使介质（Ａｇ／ＡｇＩ）镀层空芯玻璃光纤的传输损耗随注入功率的增加而增大．     

Gradually tapered hollow glass waveguides for the transmission of CO2 laser radiation

Hollow glass waveguides with bores tapered from 1000 to 500 microm and from 700 to 500 microm over a length of 2 m were coated with silver and silver iodide inner films. These waveguides were designed for low attenuation at the 10.6-microm CO2 laser wavelength. The straight losses, which were measured to be 0.8 and 1.6 dB/m, respectively, decreased when the guides were bent. A simple ray-trajectory model is presented to explain this unexpected behavior.     

Photosensitivity in silica-based waveguides deposited by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition

By using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, we evaluated photosensitivity in silica-based waveguides deposited by atmospheric pressure vapor deposition. Our results show that photosensitivity with ArF excimer laser irradiation was ten times greater than photosensitivity with KrF excimer laser irradiation. ArF excimer laser irradiation induced a refractive-index change of greater than 2 x 10(-3) at 1.55 mum and a birefringence between TE and TM modes of less than 6 x 10(-5). It has also been determined that the photoinduced absorption change of 90 dB/mm at 210 nm cannot account for a refractive-index change greater than 10(-3).