Optical fibers based on As-S-Se glass system

The core-clad optical fibers with polymer coating based on As-S-Se glass ha ve been manufactured with the aim of measuring their optical and strength p arameters for potential use in the middle infrared. The glass compositions, As40S30Se30, and As40S33Se27 were chosen as a core and a clad, respectivel y. To prepare sulfoselenide glasses and fibers we used two main variants. i .e,, the direct melting of initial elements and using arsenic monosulfide a s an arsenic-containing component. The core-clad-optical fibers were drawn by the double-crucible method with the ratio of core/ cladding diameters (i n mum) 300/400, 200/400 and 100/400. The minimum loss measured by the two-p oint method was equal to 0.7 dB m(-1) at 5.5 mum. It is the best result on As-S-Se core-clad fibers with comparable content of sulfur and selenium. Th e numerical aperture (NA), found as the sine of half of the angle of the po wer spatial distribution in the far zone, has also been measured in 2 fiber s and is 0.35 and 0.2. The average mechanical bending strength was equal to 0.8 GPa. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.