Low-loss infrared arsenic-chalcogenide glass optical fibers

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper reports recent achievements in the field of infrared optical fibers based on vitreous arsenic chalcogenides (As2S3,As2Se3, As2Se15Te15). The minimum optical losses of the fibers from arsenic sulfide, arsenic selenide and arsenic tellurideare equal to 20-30 dB/km at 2.2 and 3.3 pm, 80-100 dB/km at 4.3tm, and 100-300 dB/km and 6.7 jim, respectively. Amongthem the double polymer coated two-layer arsenic-sulfide optical fibers have the lowest optical losses (20-25 dB/km) and thehighest mechanical bending strength (1-1 .5 GPa). Keywords: JR fibers, chalcogenide glass fibers, metal coating, optical losses, mechanical strength, numerical aperture 1. INTRODUCTION Chalcogenide glass optical fibers with low optical loss in the middle infrared (IR) region, especially at 2-12 tm are requiredto solve a number of scientific and applied problems. Among these problems are the transmission of IR radiation over largedistance for analytical purposes, the manufacture of optical amplifiers and lasers, the high power delivery JR laser radiationfor medicine and technology, the development of fiber gages and sensors and others. Each of these applications imposesspecific requirements to the parameters of optical fibers, and correspondingly defines the glass composition, the level andcontent of the acceptable impurities, as well as the manufacture procedure.The present paper gives the results on manufacture and investigation of the optical fibers based on arsenic chalcogenideglasses. The main attention is given to the impurity-sensitive properties of such fibers.