Multimaterial disc-to-fiber approach to efficiently produce robust infrared fibers

A critical challenge in the fabrication of chalcogenide-glass infrared optical fibers is the need for first producing large volumes of highpurity glass – a formidable task, particularly in the case of multicomponent glasses. We describe here a procedure based on multimaterial coextrusion of a hybrid glass-polymer preform from which extended lengths of robust infrared fibers are readily drawn. Only ~2 g of glass is required to produce 46 m of step-index fiber with core diameters in the range 10 – 18 μm. This process enables rapid prototyping of a variety of glasses for applications in the delivery of quantum cascade laser light, spectroscopy, sensing, and astronomy. ©2014 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: (060.2290) Fiber optics and optical communications: Fiber materials; (060.2390) Fiber optics and optical communications: Fiber optics, infrared; (160.2290) Materials: Fiber materials. References and links 1. J. A. 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