Fabrication and Characterization of Infrared Optical Fibre

我从基于硫化镧镓的玻璃(GLS)中生产红外纤维，使用预制件和坩埚拉伸。这种玻璃的析晶温度接近其拉丝温度。当它结晶时，它很快就会失去透光性能和机械性能。因此，在结晶有时间对玻璃产生负面影响之前，必须迅速将其拉入纤维中。为了解决这个问题，过去的工作认为有必要向玻璃的成分中添加氧气。这使得能够以牺牲所得光纤的部分传输窗口为代价来便于绘制。在这项工作中，我们对这一假设提出质疑。这将使我们能够生产具有不打折扣的传输窗口的GLS光纤。我们的目标是实现这一目标，这要归功于对传统预制件拉伸方法的系统改进，以及开发一种新的坩埚拉伸方法。如果我们成功，GLS将成为红外光纤的一个相当强大的竞争对手，得益于其独特的传输窗口，范围从500 nm到16Mum(从可见光到长波红外)，以及其非凡的机械强度。特别是，它将在热成像和化学传感方面找到非常合适的应用。

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.