On the morphologies of oxides particles in optical fibers: Effect of the drawing tension and composition

Abstract

Rare-earth-doped oxide nanoparticles in the core of silica optical fibers are becoming well studied as they yield enhanced and tailorable spectroscopic and optical properties. In this paper, the evolution of particle morphology, induced by the drawing step, is studied. Indeed, during the fiber draw process, the glass flows and particles can elongate and even break-up into smaller particles through Rayleigh-Plateau instabilities. The shape of elongated particles is related to the composition as it depends on the viscosity ratio between the particle and the matrix. Moreover, a lower drawing temperature enhances the break-up phenomenon. These observations offer new possibilities for the control of the size and the shape of particles, hence performance of active optical fibers.