Temperature assisted band-gap engineering in all-solid chalcogenide holey fiber for mid-IR application

摘要

Presence of photonic band-gap (PBG) in an all-solid microstructured optical fiber (MOF), made of two fabrication compatible chalcogenide (Ch) glasses is theoretically investigated for potential application in the functional mid-infrared (IR) wavelength range. Cross-section of the MOF is formed by assuming periodically arranged wavelength scale circular air holes in a hexagonal pattern embedded in a uniform matrix. One type of Ch-glass is considered as the background material whereas another type of Ch-glass is assumed to fill the air holes. The relative index contrast between these two Ch-glasses is ～ 24%, for which PBG appears only for a suitable range of non-zero longitudinal wave vector. We have studied the scalability of this PBG by varying the lattice parameter of MOF and optimized the cross-section to attain the PBG at ～ 2 μm wavelength. Then by utilizing the thermo-optic properties of the glasses, the effect of external temperature (T) on the PBG is studied, and finally we have proposed a T-tunable wavelength filter/sensor at mid-IR wavelength with tuning sensitivity as high as ～ 140 pm/℃.