title: AgI-coated silver-clad stainless steel hollow waveguides for infrared lightwave transmission and their applications.
abstract: We fabricated silver iodide (AgI)-coated silver hollow waveguides to transmit a wide range of infrared (IR) light. Silver-clad stainless steel pipes were used as a supporting pipe. Since this type of metallic hollow waveguide has high mechanical strength and heat resistance, it is suitable as a rigid lightwave probe for various applications such as dental or medical laser treatment, IR spectroscopy, thermal radiometry, and laser processing. Considering these applications, we estimated the hollow waveguides with different thicknesses of the AgI layer. By optimizing the AgI layer thickness according to the wavelength of propagating light, we succeeded in efficiently transmitting Er-YAG and CO(2) laser light. We also studied the optical characteristics of a wide range of incoherent light for IR spectroscopy and radiometry applications using these metallic hollow waveguides as lightwave probes.
authors.affiliation: Hitachi Cable Ltd., 880 Isagozawa, Hitachi, 319-1418, Japan. hongo.akihito@hitachi‐cable.co.jp
authors.forename: Akihito
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hongo
authors.forename: Shinobu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hattori
authors.forename: Katsumasa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwai
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takaku
authors.forename: Mitsunobu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miyagi