Temperature dependences of optical path length in fluorine-doped silica glass and bismuthate glass

Abstract

Temperature dependences of optical path length (dS/dT; calculated using the equation, dS/dT = dn/dT + na, where a is coefficient of thermal expansion, n is refractive index and dn/dT is temperature coefficient of refractive index) in various oxide glasses were investigated. The dS/dT is generally difficult to adjust by change of glass composition because dn/dT and a are interrelated. However, low dS/dT materials are desired for optical applications such as athermal devices, and high dS/dT materials can be used for thermo-optic devices. Pure silica glass is well-known as a typical low dS/dT material but still not sufficient. Fluorine-doped silica glass showed a lower dS/dT than that of pure silica glass. By fluorine-doping in silica glass, refractive index and dn/dT decreased but a near room temperature stayed at the same level. As a result, the dS/dT decreased with increasing fluorine concentration. On the other hand, bismuthate glass showed the highest dS/dT in this study. Most glasses having high a such as tellurite glass showed negative dn/dT. However, bismuthate glasses showed positive dn/dT in spite of high a. As a result, bismuthate glasses showed quite high dS/dT. These results indicate that dS/dT of the glass can be controllable and that fluorine doped silica glass and bismuthate glass are appropriate candidate materials for optical applications.