Abstract
Two types of flexible hollow waveguides -- cyclic olefin polymer-coated silver (COP/Ag) hollow glass waveguides and fluorocarbon polymer-coated silver (FCP/Ag) hollow glass waveguides -- specially prepared for the delivery of high power 1.06 micrometer radiation were investigated by using an oscillator-amplifier Nd:YAG laser system emitting a single pulse or a train of pulses. The length of an individual pulse was equal to 50 ps and the laser repetition rate was 2.5 Hz. The output single mode beam with a full divergence angle of 0.12 mrad was focused into the COP/Ag or FCP/Ag hollow glass waveguide and the radiation was transmitted through it under various conditions. Transmission/attenuation as a function of the input laser energy was measured together with the input/output time radiation characteristics and the spatial distribution of the output beam. The transmission losses for a straight waveguide were found to be 0.24 dB/m for COP/Ag and 0.38 dB/m for FCP/Ag hollow waveguides with the inner diameter of 1 mm. The maximum energy transmitted was 150 mJ for the train of pulses and 40 mJ for a single pulse from which follows the delivered power of 100 GW/cm<SUP>2</SUP>. The characteristics obtained make these waveguides very promising for the delivery of high-power laser pulses in medical and other applications.
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