Trends in specialty fiber optic materials: characterization and applications

Abstract

Plasma outside deposition (POD) allows the incorporation of high fluorine contents in silica glass to manufacture multi-mode fibers. Due to all silica design and excellent material attributes, these so-called Fluosil fibers cover a wide spectrum of applications over a broad wavelength rage from UV to NIR including medical laser surgery, industrial materials processing, automotive, sensing, spectroscopy, and fiber bundles. These characteristics have allowed fiber designs to become more and more sophisticated in recent years. An overview of the current capabilities, characterization techniques, and fiber trends will be presented. Heraeus supports these new developments by offering a growing number of materials, preforms and services.