University of Central Florida Research Foundation Inc

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Guangming Tao

Ayman F Abouraddy

Soroush Shabahang

Yoel Fink

Steven G Johnson

Esmaeil Banaei

Daosheng S Deng

Joshua J Kaufman

Xiangdong Liang

In one embodiment, a chalcogenide glass optical fiber is produced by forming a billet including a chalcogenide glass mass and a polymer mass in a stacked configuration, heating the billet to a temperature below the melting point of the chalcogenide glass, extruding the billet in the ambient environment to form a preform rod having a chalcogenide glass core and a polymer jacket, and drawing the preform rod.

Systems and methods for producing robust chalcogenide optical fibers

A fiber is provided, including a cladding material that is disposed along a longitudinal-axis fiber length. A plurality of spherical particles are disposed as a sequence along a longitudinal line parallel to the longitudinal fiber axis in at least a portion of the fiber length, and include a spherical particle material that is interior to the fiber cladding material and different than the fiber cladding material. To produce particles, a drawn fiber, having a longitudinal-axis fiber length and including at least one fiber core that has a longitudinal core axis parallel to the longitudinal fiber axis and that is internally disposed to at least one outer fiber cladding layer along the fiber length, is heated for a time that is sufficient to cause a fiber core to break-up into droplets sequentially disposed along the fiber core axis. Fiber cooling solidifies droplets into spherical particles interior to fiber cladding.

In-fiber particle generation

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Orlando, FL, United States of America

Guangming Tao