Ultra-simplified Single-Step Fabrication of Microstructured Optical Fiber

Cristiano M B Cordeiro,Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem,Alson K L Ng

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-66632-3

Cristiano M B Cordeiro, Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66632-3

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Abstract

Manufacturing optical fibers with a microstructured cross-section relies on the production of a fiber preform in a multiple-stage procedure, and drawing of the preform to fiber. These processes encompass the use of several dedicated and sophisticated equipment, including a fiber drawing tower. Here we demonstrate the use of a commercial table-top low-cost filament extruder to produce optical fibers with complex microstructure in a single step - from the pellets of the optical material directly to the final fiber. The process does not include the use of an optical fiber drawing tower and is time, electrical power, and floor space efficient. Different fiber geometries (hexagonal-lattice solid core, suspended core and hollow core) were successfully fabricated and their geometries evaluated. Air guidance in a wavelength range where the fiber material is opaque was shown in the hollow core fiber.

Highlights

Optical fibers revolutionized the way we communicate, being responsible for most of the actual global data traffic
While fibers with a solid core and a holey cladding with a lower refractive index guide by total internal reflection as traditional optical fibers, hollow-core fibers (HCFs) enabled new guiding mechanisms
While most traditional fibers and microstructured optical fibers (MOF) are made of silica due to their remarkable optical and physical properties, fibers can be made of polymers and non-silica glasses

Summary

Introduction

Optical fibers revolutionized the way we communicate, being responsible for most of the actual global data traffic. Conventional optical fibers, on the other hand, have a small core/cladding index contrast, usually below 1%. Standard optical fibers rely on vapor deposition methods to produce low loss preforms. MOF preforms with their characteristic air holes array, on the other hand, have been produced with different techniques. Silica MOFs are typically made via the stack-and-draw technique[1] where millimeter thick capillaries are manually stacked, forming the desired structure. This is a convenient and versatile procedure when tubes are widely available commercially such as for silica and, for some borosilicate glasses (e.g. Duran[7]). Soft-glass MOFs can be produced with this procedure but with extra complexity due to the initial need to produce the tubes[8]

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