Abstract:
A chalcogen-based glass (26) is placed in a reaction chamber (14). A halide is mixed with the glass. The glass is melted and the halide reacts with hydrogen or carbon impurities in the glass. A vacuum is pulled through a tailpipe (20) to remove gas by-products. The tail pipe (20) is sealed. Vapors from the glass pass through openings (16, 18) and condense in a tube (12) to form a distillate which is out gassed, cooled and annealed to form a glass.
Abstract:
A vertically disposed apparatus used to make core-clad optical fibers includes an inner elongated cylinder removably closed at the top and provided at the bottom with an inner exit port of a smaller diameter than the inner cylinder and an outer cylinder, disposed around the inner cylinder, removably closed at the top and provided at the bottom with an outer exit port of a smaller diameter than the outer cylinder. The inner exit port is of a smaller diameter than the outer exit port and is disposed directly above the outer exit port. The apparatus also includes a heater for heating the inner and outer cylinders and access to the inner and the outer cylinders for individually pressurizing inner and outer cylinders. The process by which the core-clad optical fibers are made includes the steps of placing a solid glass core rod into the inner cylinder of the apparatus described above, placing a solid glass cladding tube into the outer cylinder, melting the core rod and the cladding tube, quickly cooling the molten core rod and cladding tube to the drawing temperature, individually pressurizing the molten core rod and cladding tube, and drawing the core-clad optical fiber through the exit ports.
Abstract:
An optical tag (200) comprises a chalcogenide glass corner-cube reflector (202) bonded to a silicon MEMS modulator (206) by means of a glass material (214) having a lower softening temperature than that of the reflector. The tag is provided with AR coatings (210, 212). The invention provides a robust, integrated and compact optical tag having a wide field of view and low manufacturing costs.
Abstract:
This invention pertains to a hollow core photonic band gap chalcogenide optical glass fiber and to a fabrication method for making the fiber. The fiber, which is 80-1000 microns in outside diameter, is characterized by a solid glass circumferential region and a structured region disposed centrally within the solid region, the structured region includes a hollow core of 1 micron to several hundreds of microns in diameter surrounded by a plurality of parallel hollow capillaries extending parallel to the core, the core being centrally and longitudinally located within the fiber. Ratio of open space to glass in the structured region is 30-99 %. The fabrication method includes the steps of providing a mold, placing chalcogenide micro-tubes around the mold, stacking chalcogenide micro-canes around the stacked micro-tubes, fusing the micro-tubes and the micro-canes to form a preform, removing the mold and drawing the preform to obtain the fiber. In an alternative fabrication method, the fiber is made by extruding flowing chalcogenide glass through suitably made plate to form a preform and then drawing the preform to form the fiber.
Abstract:
A method (100) for creating an optical structure for infrared applications includes forming (102) a layer of chalcogenide glass material upon a substrate (210), and applying (106) a patterned stamper (214) to the layer of chalcogenide glass material, in the presence of heat, the patterned stamper (214) causing the layer of chalcogenide glass material to reflow (108) such that stamped features of the patterned stamper (214) are transferred onto the layer of chalcogenide material. The stamped features onto the layer of chalcogenide glass material are used to form one of an optical waveguide, an optical mirror, digital video disk data, compact disk data and combinations comprising at least one of the foregoing. The substrate can be plastic, silicon, silicon dioxide or oxidized silicon. Preferably the chalcogenide glass material is AsxSey.
Abstract:
In general, in one aspect, the invention features a method that includes exposing a surface to a first gas composition under conditions sufficient to deposit a layer of a first chalcogenide glass on the surface, and exposing the layer of the first chalcogenide glass to a second glass composition under conditions sufficient to deposit a layer of a second glass on the layer of the first chalcogenide glass, wherein the second glass is different from the first chalcogenide glass.
Abstract:
High index-contrast fiber waveguides, materials for forming high index-contrast fiber waveguides, and applications of high index-contrast fiber waveguides are disclosed.
Abstract:
An apparatus and process for fabricating tubing used in the making of chalcogenide fibers. The apparatus features a three-sectioned melt/spin ampoule that allows for fabricating the chalcogenide tubing without introducing impurities and contaminants, in a self-contained apparatus.