Fabrication of structured GLS-Se glass preforms for fibre drawing

Abstract

Gallium lanthanum sulfide (GLS) with the addition of selenium (Se) glasses, have been proven as a reliable medium to transmit light in the range from the visible to the longwave infrared (LWIR). This family of chalcogenide glasses offer a broad transparency window depending on the composition. Their optical, mechanical and thermal properties have been exploited in their bulk form. Increasing interest in chalcogenide photonics research includes sensing for the civil, medical and military areas, as the molecular fingerprint region is within the GLS-Se glass transmission window. These application areas exploit the GLS-Se characteristics in an optical fibre geometry. The aim of this work was to explore the feasibility of obtaining glass rods and structured preforms from GLS-Se glass that could be drawn into optical fibres. For this, the extrusion process is explored by emphasizing the need to maintain the desirable glass characteristics throughout the entire process, from the glass melting to the fibre drawing. For this purpose, each step was studied and defined to maximise the exploitation of the equipment and the materials involved. For the first time it is shown that GLS-Se glasses can be extruded with a minimum alteration of their optical, thermal and mechanical properties. The amorphous phase was maintained, and corroborated by refractive index measurements, Raman spectroscopy and XRD. Several challenges were arisen during this work, using each of them to fully complete and develop a methodology to be able to obtain optical fibres. Further work might include reducing the losses of the optical fibres using this process.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Fernando Guzman Cruz: orcid.org/0000-0002-8096-3805

ORCID for Daniel Hewak: orcid.org/0000-0002-2093-5773

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