A tapering method for chalcogenide glass optical fiber

Abstract

The invention discloses a chalcogenide glass optical fiber tapering method. In tapering, a radiation heating device carries out radiation heating on a heating zone of a metal flat plate so that optical fibers are softened through heat, and the front ends of the mother optical fibers are drawn through a constant drawing force at a uniform rate so that tapered optical fibers are obtained. The tapering method can be operated simply and controllably, utilizes a simple device structure and realizes a low cost. The drawn tapered optical fibers are reliably and effectively protected through plastic hoses so that later processes are convenient. The method simplifies a chalcogenide glass optical fiber tapering process and can accurately prepare optical fibers which have different tapers and have the micro-nano level taper waist external diameters. The tapered optical fibers have high quality, are not bent and have good straightness, less inner stress and structure defects and high structural homogeneity. The chalcogenide glass optical fiber tapering method is suitable for tapering thinning of sulfur-series microstructure optical fibers with complex structures or photonic crystal optical fibers and provides an effective novel ideal for optical fiber tapering.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to a tapering method of an optical fiber, in particular to a tapering method of a chalcogenide glass optical fiber. Background technique [0002] The miniaturization of devices is one of the important trends in scientific research and technological development, and is the core technology for applications such as future high-speed optical communication systems and high-speed information processing. As the most basic optical information transmission unit in micro-nano photonic devices, the micro-nano-scale optical waveguide structure (ie, micro-nano fiber) is one of the current research hotspots in the field of photonics. Micro-nano fiber has low device-fiber coupling loss, smooth surface with extremely low roughness, strong optical field confinement, large percentage of evanescent field adjustable, good flexibility, extremely light weight and controllable zero dispersion point , these advantages combined with the ultra-high linear...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

The direct flame stretching method was originally a method of making fiber optic cones and fiber couplers. The flame moves back and forth under the fiber for baking, and the two ends of the fiber are fixed on the electric movable fixture table with clamps. Stretching in the heating area, the outer diameter of the fiber is reduced, and the desired micro-nano fiber is obtained. This method is relatively simple to operate, but there are obvious defects such as inaccurate temperature control in the tapered area and uneven tapered area, so it is not suitable for drawing a specific outer fiber. micro-nano fiber

The two-step drawing method involves two steps: first, the fiber is tapered to a few microns using conventional direct flame drawing techniques; then the fiber is broken into two parts, and the tail of one part is wound into a thermal sapphire The tip of the rod continues to stretch until the outer diameter of the submicron. This method can draw micro-nano optical fibers with a finer outer diameter, but it cannot draw complete micro-nano optical fibers, and the tapered area is easily affected by hot air and electrostatic force. The action causes the fiber to bend and deform

The bulk glass direct stretching method is a method of directly stretching nanowires using bulk raw materials. During preparation, a sapphire rod is heated, and then the tip of the sapphire rod is inserted into the bulk glass, and the glass at the contact point of the sapphire rod will be Soften; and then quickly remove the sapphire rod to pull out a nanowire, but this method is not suitable for pulling micro-nano fibers with specific structures

In addition, in the existing micro-nano optical fiber preparation method, in the process of preparing micro-nano optical fiber, there are generally problems of real-time monitoring and optical fiber drawing process monitoring, and the pulling force in the optical fiber drawing process is not constant, which is easy to cause the tapered area Defects such as unevenness and large curvature of the entire tapered area

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