Preparation and characterization of Bragg fibers with air cores for transfer of laser radiation

This paper presents results of preparation and characterization of Bragg fibers with silica and air cores designed for delivery of laser radiation at 1060 nm. The fibers consist of cores with a refractive index equal to that of air or silica which is surrounded by three pairs of Bragg layers. Each pair is composed of one layer with a high and one layer with a low refractive index and is characterized by a refractive-index contrast up to 0.03. Three structures of Bragg fibers are presented in the paper, namely the structure with a silica core of 26 μm in diameter, structure with an air core of 5 μm in diameter and that with an air core of a diameter of 72 μm. Preforms of the Bragg fibers in the form of a rod or tube have been prepared by the MCVD method using germanium dioxide, phosphorous pentoxide and fluorine as silica dopants. The fibers have been drawn from the preforms under controlled temperatures in order to obtain fibers with air or solid cores. Results of characterization of prepared fibers with optical microscopy and by measuring their refractive-index profiles, losses and angular distributions of the output optical power are presented. The characterization of fibers for delivery radiation of a Nd:YAG laser with nanosecond pulses at 1060 nm, namely the transmission, attenuation coefficient, spatial profiles of transmitted beams, and bending losses are also presented. Fiber damage thresholds in a range 25-30 GW/cm2 have been determined.

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