From selenium- to tellurium-based glass optical fibers for infrared spectroscopies

Chalcogenide glasses are based on sulfur, selenium and tellurium elements, and have been studied for several decades regarding different applications. Among them, selenide glasses exhibit excellent infrared transmission in the 1 to 15 µm region. Due to their good thermo-mechanical properties, these glasses could be easily shaped into optical devices such as lenses and optical fibers. During the past decade of research, selenide glass fibers have been proved to be suitable for infrared sensing in an original spectroscopic method named Fiber Evanescent Wave Spectroscopy (FEWS). FEWS has provided very nice and promising results, for example for medical diagnosis. Then, some sophisticated fibers, also based on selenide glasses, were developed: rare-earth doped fibers and microstructured fibers. In parallel, the study of telluride glasses, which can have transmission up to 28 µm due to its atom heaviness, has been intensified thanks to the DARWIN mission led by the European Space Agency (ESA). The development of telluride glass fiber enables a successful observation of CO₂ absorption band located around 15 µm. In this paper we review recent results obtained in the Glass and Ceramics Laboratory at Rennes on the development of selenide to telluride glass optical fibers, and their use for spectroscopy from the mid to the far infrared ranges.

A fiber loop mirror temperature sensor demodulation technique using a long-period grating in a photonic crystal fiber and a band-pass filter

A fiber loop mirror (FLM) temperature sensor using a long-period grating (LPG) written in a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) and a band-pass filter as a demodulator is proposed. By utilizing the stable filtering function of the LPG in the PCF, the resonant wavelength variation of the FLM with temperature is transferred effectively to the intensity variation of the output light. By monitoring the light intensity of the band-pass of the filter, temperature applied on the FLM is deduced by an optical power meter. Experiment results show that the temperature sensitivity is high as ~1.742 dB/ °C when a filter with a full width at half maximum 3 nm and the center at 1545 nm is used.

Casting method for producing low-loss chalcogenide microstructured optical fibers

We report significant advances in the fabrication of low loss chalcogenide microstructured optical fiber (MOF). This new method, consisting in molding the glass in a silica cast made of capillaries and capillary guides, allows the development of various designs of fibers, such as suspended core, large core or small core MOFs. After removing the cast in a hydrofluoric acid bath, the preform is drawn and the design is controlled using a system applying differential pressure in the holes. Fiber losses, which are the lowest recorded so far for selenium based MOFs, are equal to the material losses, meaning that the process has no effect on the glass quality.