A study of environmental effects on the attenuation of chalcogenide optical fibre

Curry, R.J., Birtwell, S.W., Mairaj, A.K., Feng, X. and Hewak, D.W. (2005) A study of environmental effects on the attenuation of chalcogenide optical fibre. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 351 (6-7), 477-481. (doi:10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2004.12.013).

Abstract

The attenuation of a number of chalcogenide glass optical fibres has been studied with regard to their exposure the environment. We demonstrate that gallium lanthanum sulfide (Ga:La:S) based glasses appear to be as resilient if not more so than arsenic sulfide (As₂S₃) glass to the attack of moisture when stored uncoated in ambient conditions for various periods exceeding 1 year. The increase in the characteristic OH' attenuation peak was ~3–4 dB/m for all fibres following storage.

Given the significant improvements achieved in As₂S₃ glass technology over recent years we believe that Ga:La:S based fibres can also be improved to at least match these levels with the advantage of being non-toxic and having a significantly higher melting temperature. Studies of the time-dependant attenuation of the optical fibres during immersion in water have also been carried out.

These results show that the deleterious effect of moisture on these glasses occurs over a short time, ~24 h, thus having implications on the treatment and storage of fibre preforms prior to optical fibre drawing.

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Contributors

Author: D.W. Hewak

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