Fabrication and Characterization of Infrared Optical Fibre

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I produce infrared fibre from Gallium Lanthanum Sulphide based glasses (GLS), using both preform and crucible drawing. This glass has a crystallization temperature close to its fibre drawing temperature. When it crystallizes, it rapidly loses its light transmitting properties as well as its mechanical qualities. Therefore, it must be drawn into fibre rapidly, before crystallization has time to negatively impact the glass.In order to address this issue, past work has deemed necessary to add oxygen to the composition of the glass. This enables to facilitate drawing at the cost of sacrificing part of the transmission window of the resulting fibre.In this work, we are questioning that assumption. This will enable us to produce GLS fibre with an uncompromised transmission window. We aim to achieve this goal thanks to systematic enhancements of the method for traditional preform drawing, as well as developing a novel crucible drawing method.If we are successful, GLS will become a considerably stronger competitor as infrared fibre, benefiting both from its uniquely positioned transmission window, ranging from 500 nm to 16Mu m (from the visible to long-wavelength infrared), as well as its remarkable mechanical strength. In particular, it would find very well-suited applications in thermal imaging and chemical sensing.