title: Optical properties of end-sealed hollow fibers.
abstract: We propose sealing techniques for medical hollow fibers to protect the inner surface of fibers from debris or water that scatters from targets. First, hollow fibers are sealed with a film of polymer that is easily formed by use of a dipping technique. The transmission loss of 20-microm-thick sealing film was 0.2 dB for Er:YAG laser light, and the maximum energy that is available for the film was 180 mJ. Second, a sealed glass cap was applied to the output end of hollow fiber. The silica-glass cap with a wall thickness of 400 microm shows a transmission loss of 0.5 dB and was not damaged by radiation of 400-mJ energy pulses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Communications, Tohoku University, Aramaki, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Shintaro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mohri
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kasai
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: Yi-Wei
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsuura
authors.forename: Mitsunobu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miyagi