In recent years, a growing interest has settled for optical materials and fibers for the mid infrared (mid-IR) region. This interest originates from societal needs for health and environment for instance, and also from demand for defence applications. Indeed, the mid-IR spectral region contains the atmospheric transparent windows (3-5 μm) and (8-12 μm) where thermal imaging (military and civilian) can take place. The elaboration of chalcogenide microstructured optical fibers (MOFs) permits to combine the mid infrared transmission of chalcogenide glasses up to 18 μm to the unique optical properties of MOFs thanks to the high degree of freedom in the design of their geometrical structure. In this context, additive manufacturing of glass materials appears as an attractive technique to achieve more elaborate designs that can hardly be obtain using more common methods such as the stack-and-draw or molding. Taking advantages of the specific physical properties of chalcogenide glasses such as low Tg and extrusion temperature, we have shown that chalcogenide preforms can be rapidly obtained by fused deposition modeling (FDM) using a customized RepRap-style 3D printed fed with chalcogenide glass rods. Such as-prepared preforms can be drawn into chalcogenide optical fibers. Those early-stage results open a new way for the elaboration of chalcogenide MOFs.
For several years, chalcogenide glasses have been studied as good candidates for numerous applications in the midinfrared region. Indeed, these glasses are transparent from 1 to 20 μm (depending on the composition), a mid- IR windows well-suited for sensing molecules whose optical signatures are located in the 2-16 μm range. In addition, thanks to appropriate thermal properties, chalcogenide glasses can be drawn into fibers, including microstructured optical fibers. In this work, a new method based on 3D-printing process is investigated to produce hollow chalcogenide glass preforms, which are then drawn into hollow-core fibers. The transmission of the “printed” hollow-core fiber has been measured and compared to the initial glass. A significant, but still manageable, increase by a factor of 2.5 is observed. This works opens a promising way for the fabrication of chalcogenide MOFs, more particularly for the elaboration of hollow core fibers.
The elaboration of chalcogenide microstructured optical fibers (MOFs) permits to combine the mid infrared transmission of chalcogenide glasses up to 18 µm to the unique optical properties of MOFs thanks to the high degree of freedom in the design of their geometrical structure. In this context, we have shown that chalcogenide preforms can be obtained by an original additive manufacturing process We have also shown that these preforms can be drawn into chalcogenide optical fibers. Those early-stage results open a new way for the elaboration of chalcogenide MOFs with more elaborate designs.
Direct femtosecond laser writing technique is now widely used in particular in glass, to produce both passive and active photonic devices. This technique offers a real scientific opportunity to generate three-dimensional optical components. The chalcogenide glasses are of great interest since they possess a transparency window from the visible up to the midinfrared range. Moreover, they also have high optical non-linearity and high photosensitivity that facilitate the inscription of permanent refractive index modification. In this presentation, an original method based on both the filamentation phenomenon and a point-by-point technique will be described. The written waveguide is of multicore type and consists in parallel channels of positive ▵n placed parallel to each other on a hexagonal or a circular mesh. The performances in terms of optical losses at both 1.55 μm and 4.55 μm measured in such photowritten buried infrared waveguide are very competitive. This writing technique is particularly suitable for the design of single mode waveguide for wavelengths ranging from the visible up to the mid-infrared since the geometry of the inscription and the amplitude of the refractive index modification can be easily adapted. This also paves the way for the fabrication of advanced mid-infrared optical components such as Y-splitters.
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