Graded Index Chalcogenide Fibers with Nanostructured Core

Abstract

Fabrication of graded index (GRIN) fibers is for a long time limited to ion-exchange, modified chemical vapour deposition (MCVD) or other deposition techniques. Recently, the nanostructuring of an all-solid core in fibers has proven to be a versatile and low cost alternative for the production of gradient index optical fibers. Herein, high purity chalcogenide glasses in the Ge-As-Se glass system, synthesized in-house, are used for stacking and drawing chalcogenide nanostructured GRIN fibers designed using the Maxwell-Gernett effective medium theory, mimulated annealing and genetic algorithms. The successful generation of a supercontinuum spanning the mid-infrared from 3 to 6 um, pumping at a central wavelength of 4 um using an Optical Parametric Oscillator sith femtosecond pulses, is also reported.