Fabrication of copper oxide-coated hollow waveguides for CO2 laser radiation

Hollow fibers for transmitting CO(2) laser light were fabricated by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. A dielectric film of copper oxide (Cu(2)O) was deposited upon the inside of a Ag-coated glass capillary by use of a metal acetylacetonate as the precursor. The waveguide, which was coated with Cu(2)O and had a bore diameter of 700 mum, showed a loss of 0.9 dB/m for CO(2) laser light. The Cu(2)O film deposited by CVD had high chemical and heat resistivity. Therefore a hollow fiber coated with copper oxide is suitable for high-power laser applications in a severe environment.