International audienceThe theoretical analysis and experimental preparation of a hollow-core Bragg fiber based on chalcogenide glasses are demonstrated. The fiber has potential applications in bio-sensing and IR energy transmission. Two chalcogenide glasses with, respectively, high and low refractive indexes are investigated in detail for the fabrication of hollow-core Bragg fibers. The most appropriate structure is selected; this structure is composed of four concentric rings and a center air hole . Its band gap for the Bragg fiber is analyzed by the plane wave method. The chalcogenide glasses Ge15Sb20S58.5I13 and Ge15Sb10Se75 are chosen to extrude the robust multi-material glass preform with a specialized punch and glass container. The glass preform is simultaneously protected with a polyetherimide polymer. The hollow-core Bragg fibers are finally obtained after glass preform extrusion, fiber preform fabrication, and fiber drawing. Results showed that the fiber has a transparency window from 2.5 to 14 μm, including a low-loss transmission window from 10.5 to 12 μm. The location of this low-loss transmission window matches the predicted photonic band gap in the simulatio

International audienceWe developed the extrusion method to prepare arsenic-free chalcogenide glass fibers with glass cladding. By using the double nested extrusion molds and the corresponding isolated stacked extrusion method, the utilization rate of glass materials was greatly improved compared with the conventional extrusion method. Fiber preforms with optimal stability of core/cladding ratio throughout the 160 mm length were prepared using the developed extrusion method. Typical fiber structure defects between the core/cladding interface, such as bubbles, cracks, and core diameter variation, were effectively eliminated. Ge-Sb-Se/S chalcogenide glasses were used to form a core/cladding pair and fibers with core/cladding structure were prepared by thermally drawing the extruded preforms. The transmission loss, fiber bending loss, and other optical characters of the fibers were also investigated. © 2016 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

Decreasing glass network defects and improving optical transmittance are essential work for material researchers. We studied the function of halogen iodine (I) acting as a glass network modifier in Ge-Sb-Se-based chalcogenide glass system. A systematic series of Ge 20 Sb 5 Se 75-x I x (x = 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 at%) infrared (IR) chalcohalide glasses were investigated to decrease the weak absorption tail (WAT) and improve the mid-IR transparency. The mechanisms of the halogen I affecting the physical, thermal, and optical properties of Se-based chalcogenide glasses were reported. The structural evolutions of these glasses were also revealed by Raman spectroscopy and camera imaging. The progressive substitution of I for Se increased the optical bandgap. The WAT and scatting loss significantly decreased corresponding to the progressive decrease in structural defects caused by dangling bands and structure defects in the original Ge 20 Sb 5 Se 75 glass. The achieved maximum IR transparency of Ge-Sb-Se-I glasses can reach up to 80% with an effective transmission window between 0.94 μm to 17 μm, whereas the absorption coefficient decreased to 0.029 cm-1 at 10.16 mm. Thus, these materials are promising candidates for developing low-loss IR fibers.

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CO2 molecule, one of the main molecules to create new life, should be probed accurately to detect the existence of life in exoplanets. The primary signature of CO2 molecule is approximately 15 μm, and traditional S- and Se-based glass fibers are unsuitable. Thus, Te-based glass is the only ideal candidate glass for far-infrared detection. In this study, a new kind of Te-based chalcohalide glass system was discovered with relatively stable and large optical band gap. A traditional melt-quenching method was adopted to prepare a series of (Ge15Ga10Te75)100-x (CsBr)x chalcogenide glass samples. Experiment results indicate that the glass-forming ability and thermal properties of glass samples were improved when CsBr was added in the host of Ge-Ga-Te glass. Ge-Ga-Te glass could remarkably dissolve CsBr content as much as 85 at.%, which is the highest halide content in all reports for Te-based chalcohalide glasses. Moreover, ΔT values of these glass samples were all above 100 °C. The glass sample (Ge15Ga10Te75)65 (CsBr)35 with ΔT of 119 °C was the largest, which was 7 °C larger than that of Ge15Ga10Te75 host glass. The infrared transmission spectra of these glasses show that the far-infrared cut-off wavelengths of (Ge15Ga10Te75)100-x (CsBr)x chalcogenide glasses were all beyond 25 μm. In conclusion, (Ge15Ga10Te75)100-x (CsBr)x chalcogenide glasses are potential materials for far-infrared optical application.