Improving Laser-Heated Pedestal Growth Process for Growing Long Single Crystal Fibers

单晶光纤在复合材料、医药、光纤传感器、超导等领域将有广泛的应用。已有几种技术用于制造单晶纤维。然而，用这些技术制造的光纤要么光学质量低，要么长度短，要么成本高。这些因素阻碍了高光学质量长（几百米）单晶光纤在许多应用中的可用性。本项目将研究其激光加热基座生长（LHPG）工艺，以制造长长度的单晶光纤，同时获得高光学质量和稳定的直径。在第一阶段，将设计、制造和组装一个线轴机构，将其纳入LHPG生长装置。利用改进的LHPG生长装置，可以生长出多种长度的蓝宝石纤维。最小长度为5米。这些样品将进行直径变化和传输测试。

Single crystal fibers will have widespread applications in such areas as composite materials, medicine, fiber optic sensors, and superconductivity. Several techniques have been used to manufacture single crystal fibers. However, fibers manufactured by these techniques either have low optical quality, short lengths, or high cost. These factors have prohibited the availability of high optical quality long (several hundred meters) single crystal fibers for many applications. This project will investigate its laser-heated pedestal growth (LHPG) process to manufacture long lengths of single crystal fibers while obtaining high optical quality and stable diameter. During Phase l, a spooling mechanism will be designed, fabricated, and assembled to be incorporated into a LHPG growth apparatus. With the modified LHPG growth apparatus, an assortment of sapphire fiber lengths of several diameters will be grown. The minimum lengths will be 5 meters. These samples will be tested for diameter variations and transmission.