Abstract
Leaky-type waveguides were fabricated using flexible hollow polymer tubing of bore sizes in the 840 to 3000 μm range. The tubing used included polycarbonate, polyetherether ketone (PEEK), butyrate and polyimide. The losses for the 2000 μm bore hollow polycarbonate waveguide were as low as 0.055 dB/m at 10.6 μm. This is the lowest loss ever measured for a hollow waveguide. These waveguides exhibit a nearly flat spectral response from 3 to 16 μm, so that they are well suited for broadband IR applications. The output beam profile for the small bore (840 μm) waveguides is mainly single mode but, higher order modes propagate for the larger bore sizes. Bending the waveguides resulted in a highly multimode output for all the bore sizes.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 230-237 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering |
| Volume | 4204 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2001 |
| Event | Fiber Optic Sensor Technology II - Boston, MA, United States Duration: Nov 6 2000 → Nov 8 2000 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Computer Science Applications
- Applied Mathematics
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Keywords
- Flexible plastic waveguide
- Incoherent light
- Large bore size
- Leaky-type waveguide
- Multimode
- Power transmission
- Spectral response
- Surface smoothness
- Thin film interference