Mid-infrared hollow core fiber drawn from a 3D printed chalcogenide glass preform

Abstract

We report the fabrication of a microstructured optical fiber drawn from a soft glass 3D printed preform. For this proof of concept, a chalcogenide glass that is well known for its capability to be shaped at low temperature and its mid-infrared transmission was selected: Te20As30Se50. The obtained negative curvature hollow core fiber shows several transmission bands in the 2–12 µm range that are reproduced numerically using finite element-based simulations and coupled mode theory.

Investigation on Chalcogenide Glass Additive Manufacturing for Shaping Mid-infrared Optical Components and Microstructured Optical Fibers

“…As illustrated in Figure 5d,e, the images recorded with a thermal camera in both directions show the presence of numerous inhomogeneities and scattering defects which are responsible of the decrease in transmission. These inhomogeneities could be refractive index variations or additional absorptions at the interfaces between the printed lines and the printed layers, and could also be the results of small bubbles trapped within the glass, as already observed in previous work [22]. The presence of small crystals in the printed pieces cannot be totally excluded, even though XRD investigations have shown no sign of crystallization due to the process (Figure 4).…”

“…Firstly, as presented in Figure 3, simple objects such as cylinders, disks, and beads were made to study the impact of the 3D printing process on the properties of TAS glass such as density, thermal expansion coefficient, refractive indices and optical attenuation. In a second step, more complex shapes were realized such as microstructured preforms (studied in [22] and Section 3.3) and tapers.…”

“…Finally, additive manufacturing was applied to the printing of fiber preforms as previously shown in reference [22], with the printing of a hollow-core preform with a clad and six capillaries. After this first proof of concept, more complex designs were printed as shown in Figure 8a.…”

“…It involves the extrusion of a thermoplastic material through a heated die and accurate deposition, layer by layer, until the desired three-dimensional object is obtained. It has been demonstrated that such filamentation techniques can be modified and applied to the 3D printing of glasses with low glass transition temperature (Tg), also known as "soft glasses", such as chalcogenide glasses [21,22] and phosphate glasses as presented in reference [23]. In previous works, in reference [22], it has been shown that a microstructured optical fiber can be obtained from a 3D printed chalcogenide glass preform.…”

“…It has been demonstrated that such filamentation techniques can be modified and applied to the 3D printing of glasses with low glass transition temperature (Tg), also known as "soft glasses", such as chalcogenide glasses [21,22] and phosphate glasses as presented in reference [23]. In previous works, in reference [22], it has been shown that a microstructured optical fiber can be obtained from a 3D printed chalcogenide glass preform. The present study is a more complete investigation of the thermal and optical properties of the chalcogenide glasses after the 3D printing process.…”