High-index-contrast multilayer hollow waveguides for mid-IR laser delivery

Hollow glass waveguides (HGWs) have been researched extensively for the efficient transmission of radiation over a broad spectral range spanning from the visible region to the far-IR. One such HGW film structure consists of a metallic substrate with overlaying multilayer dielectric thin film stack of alternating high and low refractive index films. The optical properties of such multilayer thin film stacks are well established and provide a method for developing photonic bandgap fibers with exceptionally low attenuation losses at a desired wavelength. Transmission losses can be minimized in multilayer waveguides through two main approaches; either maximizing the number of alternating layer pairs or maximizing the index contrast between adjacent films. In practice, it has been shown that for liquid-phase deposition-based procedures, the former approach leads to compounding surface and interface roughness, negating the low-loss advantage of a multilayer waveguide. Thus, this research focuses on maximizing index contrast between adjacent dielectrics in an attempt to minimize the number of films required to achieve acceptable transmission characteristics both in theory and in practice. In this study, multilayer waveguides are fabricated using three dielectric materials: silver iodide, lead sulfide, and cyclic olefin copolymer. Through exploitation of their high index contrast, these materials are used to develop low-film-count multilayer waveguides designed for enhanced transmission at both Er:YAG and CO2 laser wavelengths.