title: Multiwavelength laser light transmission of hollow optical fiber from the visible to the mid-infrared.
abstract: We report on low-loss multiwavelength laser delivery of hollow optical fiber in a wide wavelength region, from the visible to the infrared. Improved methods of liquid-phase coating were used to fabricate the hollow fiber with inner films of a silver and a cyclic olefin polymer (COP) layer. The surface roughness of the silver layer was reduced dramatically by pretreatment on the inner glass surface with an SnCl2 solution. The COP layer roughness was also decreased by using an ambient atmosphere of tetrahydrofuran (THF) solvent during the COP layer formation. Owing to the smooth surfaces, hollow fiber with optimum COP film thickness for CO2 laser light simultaneously yields low losses for a Er:YAG laser and a red pilot beam. The power durability of CO2 and Er:YAG lasers, as well as the loss properties for the pilot beam, is demonstrated.
authors.affiliation: School of Information Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. shi@ecei.tohoku.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yi Wei
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsuura
authors.forename: Mitsunobu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miyagi
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D007834:Lasers; D055100:Optical Fibers; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared / Q000295:instrumentation*