Silver Halide Infrared Transmitting Core/Clad Fibers with Small Cores

摘要

Polycrystalline silver halide AgClBr fibers are highly transparent in the mid-IR. They are flexible, insoluble in water non-toxic and biocompatible. These fibers are potentially useful for many applications, such as laser surgery, fiberoptic thermometry and infrared spectroscopy. Typical core/clad fibers consist of Br rich core and Cl rich cladding, and they normally have relatively large cores (diameters larger than 350 μm) and low transmission losses. There is a wide interest in the development of core/clad fibers with core diameters smaller than 200 μm, yet with low transmission losses. Such small core fibers would be useful for all the applications mentioned above. We have developed core/clad fibers with core diameters 140 μm and with transmission losses of about IdB/m at a wavelength of 10.6 microns. The properties of the fibers and some of their applications will be discussed.