Innovative Designs of Optical Fiber Components, Devices, and Sources Compatible with the Mid-Infrared

2-25微米分子指纹区的中红外(MID-IR)组件、设备和光源在光学相干层析成像、遥感、分子光谱和高光谱成像等广泛应用中的需求很高。例如，化学物质在中红外光谱中表现出振动和旋转吸收带，这些基本吸收带留下的独特特征为它们的识别和定量提供了通用的手段。尽管有广泛的应用，但与近红外(0.7-2.0微米)中广泛的光电子技术相比，中红外中的光电子技术几乎没有出现。这是由于光纤的基本组件--二氧化硅光纤的光传输被限制在0.4-2.0微米的光谱范围内。因此，中红外光纤需要二氧化硅以外的传输介质才能使用。在过去的几年里，我的研究成功地展示了光纤组件、光纤器件和光纤光源(OF-CDS)的新设计，如耦合器、波长转换器、光纤激光器和超连续谱光源。硫系玻璃一直是制造-CDS的核心，主要是因为它们的高度非线性。然而，硫系玻璃也提供了良好的-CDS与中红外兼容程度，这要归功于它们在这个波长范围内的透明度。为了响应当前中红外光子学的需求，并利用我的研究小组使用硫化物玻璃制造OF-CDS的强劲势头，我未来5年的研究计划将包括开发与中红外兼容的创新设计的OF-CDS。用于制造OF-CDS的积木包括用于延长长波长透明度的新型硫系光纤组合物，用于提供增益的氟化物光纤，以及最近开发的用于构建激光腔的光纤耦合器。拟议的计划解决了加拿大各地日益关注的问题，即为卫生服务、环境和工业开发监测和传感工具。该计划利用当前的光电子技术和科学成熟的光学材料，即硫化物和氟化物玻璃，以填补中红外光纤市场的一个重要缺口。创新的OF-CDS将从该计划中涌现，导致知识产权，并使加拿大行业保持在光电子技术的前沿。拟议的计划还将有助于对至少18名博士、硕士和学士级别的HQP进行光子学基础和应用方面的培训。预算主要用于培训HQP，这反映了该计划最重要的成果之一将是HQP，它有助于加拿大在工业、医疗服务和环境服务的高科技领域的持续创新和领先地位。

Mid-infrared (mid-IR) components, devices, and sources in the 2-25 µm molecular fingerprint region are in high demand for a wide range of applications including optical coherence tomography, remote sensing, molecular spectroscopy, and hyperspectral imaging. For instance, chemical substances exhibit vibrational and rotational absorption bands in the mid-IR, and the unique signature left by these fundamental bands provides a universal means for their identification and quantification. Despite a vast range of applications, photonics technologies in the mid-IR have barely emerged with respect to widespread photonics technologies in the near-IR (0.7-2.0 µm). This is due to the optical transmission of silica fiber, a fundamental component of fiber optics, that is limited to the spectral range of 0.4-2.0 µm. Fiber optics in the mid-IR therefore require transmission media other than silica to become viable. In the past years, my research has successfully demonstrated new designs of optical fiber components, optical fiber devices, and optical fiber sources (OF-CDS) such as couplers, wavelength converters, fiber lasers, and supercontinuum sources. Chalcogenide glasses have been central to the fabrication of those OF-CDS, mainly because of their high-nonlinearity. However, chalcogenide glasses also provides OF-CDS a good degree of compatibility with the mid-IR, thanks to their transparency in this wavelength range. In response to the current need of mid-IR photonics and taking advantage of the strong momentum of my research group for the fabrication of OF-CDS using chalcogenide glasses, my research program for the next 5 years will consist into the development of innovative designs of OF-CDS compatible with the mid-IR. Building blocks that will be used for the fabrication of OF-CDS include new chalcogenide fiber compositions to extend the transparency at long wavelengths, fluoride fibers for the gain they can provide, and recently developed fiber couplers to build laser cavities. The proposed program addresses a growing concern across Canada, that is, the development of monitoring and sensing tools for health services, environment, and industry. This program harnesses current photonics technologies and scientifically mature optical materials, namely chalcogenide and fluoride glasses, to close an important gap in the market offerings of mid-IR fiber optics. Innovative OF-CDS will emerge from this program, leading to intellectual property and maintaining the Canadian industry at the forefront of photonics technologies. The proposed program will also contribute to the training of at least 18 HQP at the PhD, MEng, and BEng levels, in both fundamental and applied aspects of photonics. The budget is mostly devoted to training HQP, a reflection that one of the most important outcome of the program will be the HQP that contribute to continued Canadian innovation and leadership in high technologies at the service of industry, health services, and environment.