Development and infrared applications of chalcogenide glass optical fibers

Chalcogenide glass fibers based on sulphide, selenide, telluride, and their rare earth doped compositions are being actively pursued both at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. NRL and worldwide. Great strides h ave been made in reducing optical losses using improved chemical purificati on techniques, but further improvements are needed in both purification and fiberization technology to attain the theoretical optical losses. Despite this, current singlemode and multimode chalcogenide glass fibers are enabli ng numerous applications. Some of these applications include laser power de livery, chemical sensing, imaging, scanning near field microscopy / spectro scopy, fiber infrared IR sources / lasers, amplifiers, and optical switches . The authors assert that the research and development of chalcogenide glas ses will grow in the foreseeable future, especially with respect to improve ments in the optical quality of the fibers and the performance of the fiber s in existing and future applications.