Thermo-mechanical dynamics of nanoimprinting anti-reflective structures onto small-core mid-IR chalcogenide fibers [Invited

Abstract

Thermal nanoimprinting is a fast and versatile method for transferring the anti-reflective properties of subwavelength nanostructures onto the surface of highly reflective substrates, such as chalcogenide glass optical fiber end faces. In this paper, the technique is explored experimentally on a range of different types of commercial and custom-drawn optical fibers to evaluate the influence of geometric design, core/cladding material, and thermo-mechanical properties. Up to 32.4% increased transmission and 88.3% total transmission are demonstrated in the 2–4.3 µm band using a mid-infrared (IR) supercontinuum laser.