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ALT'23 The 30th International Conference on Advanced Laser Technologies
LS-O-8
High-purity AVBVI chalcogenide glasses as a material for Mid-IR
fiber optics
I. Skripachev1, V. Pontnichenko2, M. Churbanov1
G.G. Devyatykh Institute of Chemistry of High-Purity Substances, Russian Academy of Sciences, 603951, Nizhny
Novgorod, Box-75, Tropinin st., 49,
2E.M. Dianov Fiber Optics Research Center, Moscow, Vavilov St., 38
skripachev@ihps. nnov. ru
Chalcogenide glasses (ChG) consist of individual chalcogenides of III-V group elements (B, Ga, La, Ge, As, Sb) and of their mixtures. They consider as perspective optical materials since 1950 when high transparency of As2S3 glass in the middle infrared (IR) was obtained by purification of this compound [1].
In the 80's low optical losses were predicted for ChG, being at the level 0.1-0.05 dB/km at the 4-6 mkm wavelength region [2,3]. High non-linearity of the optical properties also have been observed. Optical fibers made of the glasses with such characteristics provided the new possibilities at solving of several problems in optics and optoelectronics.
The properties of ChG that are the most important for fiber optics application (optical transparency, laser beam energy threshold and mechanical strength) are very sensitive to impurities content in the ChG. The content of some strongly absorbing impurities (hydrogenous and carboneous compounds, oxygen, carbon) must not exceed 10-2 -10-3 ppm at. The content of particles with the size not larger than 100 nm is limited at the level 101- 103 cm-3 [4].
Due to efforts of researches high pure ChG were obtained, the content of limiting impurities did not exceed 10"2-10-3 ppm wt. in the best samples of the glasses. Optical fibers with minimum loss 12-14 dB/km in the 3-5 mkm wavelength region were fabricated from pure As-S glasses [4]. Optical fibers made of As-Se, Ge-As-S-Se and Ge-As-Se-Te glass have the minimum optical loss 40 - 150 dB/km in the 6-9 mkm wavelength region.
Chalcogenide glass optical fibers were tested as elements of various optical and optoelectronic devices [5]. The main goals of further developments in the field of high pure ChG and infrared optical fibers on its base are as follows:
-Search of the extrinsic loss sources that give contribution at the level 1-10 dB/km in the ChG of various systems. It means the evaluation of intrinsic contribution of the glass matrix as well as study of influence of defects in the fiber waveguide structure.
- Further decrease of the limiting impurities content in the ChG by 1-1.5 order in comparison with the level achieved as well as improvement of the glasses micro-homogeneity.
-Development of technologies that provide fabrication of ChG and optical fibers with reproducible set of exploitation parameters.
-Development of new kinds of optical fibers that use the unique properties of ChG. Among them are microstructured fibers, PCF, ChG fibers with the core doped by rare earth and transitional metals. Such kinds of ChG fibers are required for fabrication of IR fiber lasers, optical amplifiers and converters of IR radiation. Some brand new application of IR ChG fibers in the analytical systems of new generation will be shown.
The research was carried out with the support of the Russian Science Foundation, RSF grant No. 22-1300226.
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