Claims
- 1. A fiber waveguide having a waveguide axis, comprising:
a first portion extending along the waveguide axis comprising a first material having an index of refraction, n1, a working temperature, Tw, and a softening temperature, Ts; a second portion extending along the waveguide axis comprising a second material having an index of refraction, n2, and a viscosity, η2, that varies as a function of temperature, T; wherein the absolute difference between n1 and n2 is at least 0.35 and η2 at Tw is at least 103 Poise and no more than 106 Poise, and η2 at Ts is at least 105 Poise and no more than 1013 Poise.
- 2. The fiber waveguide of claim 1, wherein η2 at Tw is no more than 105 Poise.
- 3. The fiber waveguide of claim 1, wherein η2 at Ts is at least 106 Poise.
- 4. The fiber waveguide of claim 3, wherein η2 at Ts is at least 107 Poise.
- 5. The fiber waveguide of claim 1, wherein η2 at Ts is no more than 1010 Poise
- 6. The fiber waveguide of claim 5, wherein η2 at Ts is no more than 108 Poise.
- 7. The fiber waveguide of claim 1, wherein the first and second materials are dielectric materials.
- 8. The fiber waveguide of claim 1, wherein the first and second materials are glasses.
- 9. The fiber waveguide of claim 1, wherein the first material is a chalcogenide glass.
- 10. The fiber waveguide of claim 9, wherein the second material is selected from the group consisting of oxide glasses and halide glasses.
- 11. The fiber waveguide of claim 1, wherein the first and second portions are homogeneous portions.
- 12. The fiber waveguide of claim 1, wherein the first portion is an inhomogeneous portion.
- 13. The fiber waveguide of claim 12, wherein the first portion comprises at least one hollow region extending along the waveguide axis.
- 14. The fiber waveguide of claim 1, wherein the first and second materials are inorganic materials.
- 15. The fiber waveguide of claim 1, wherein the absolute difference between n1 and n2 is at least 0.5
- 16. The fiber waveguide of claim 15, wherein the absolute difference between n1 and n2 is at least 0.6
- 17. The fiber waveguide of claim 16, wherein the absolute difference between n1 and n2 is at least 0.7
- 18. The fiber waveguide of claim 17, wherein the absolute difference between n1 and n2 is at least 0.8
- 19. The fiber waveguide of claim 1, wherein the first portion is a core and n1>n2.
- 20. The fiber waveguide of claim 19, wherein the second portion comprises a cladding layer.
- 21. The fiber waveguide of claim 1, wherein the fiber waveguide is a photonic crystal fiber.
- 22. The fiber waveguide of claim 21, wherein photonic crystal fiber is a Bragg fiber.
- 23. The fiber waveguide of claim 1, wherein the first portion has a glass transition temperature, Tg, and η2 at Tg is at least 108 Poise.
- 24. The fiber waveguide of claim 1, wherein the first material has a first thermal expansion coefficient, TEC1, and the second material has a second thermal expansion coefficient, TEC2, and between 20° C. and 380° C. |TEC1−TEC2|≦5×10−6/°.
- 25. The fiber waveguide of claim 1, wherein between 20° C. and 380° C. |TEC1−TEC2|≦2×10−6/°.
- 26. The fiber waveguide of claim 1, wherein the residual stress between the first portion and second portion at 20° C. is less than 100 MPa.
- 27. The fiber waveguide of claim 26, wherein the residual stress between the first portion and the second portion at 20° C. is less than 50 MPa.
- 28. The fiber waveguide of claim 1 further comprising a confinement region, and the confinement region includes the first and second portions.
- 29. The fiber waveguide of claim 28, wherein the first portion comprises a first layer extending along the waveguide axis and the second portion comprises a second layer extending along the waveguide axis and surrounding the first layer.
- 30. The fiber waveguide of claim 1, further comprising an optical modulation extending along the waveguide axis.
- 31. The fiber waveguide of claim 30, wherein the optical modulation comprises a structural modulation.
- 32. The fiber waveguide of claim 30, wherein the optical modulation comprises refractive index modulation.
- 33. A method for making an fiber waveguide having a waveguide axis, comprising:
providing a fiber preform comprising a first portion and a second portion surrounding the first portion, wherein the first portion comprises a first material having a refractive index n1 and the second portion comprises a second material having a refractive index n2, and |n1−n2|≧0.3 heating the fiber preform to a temperature where the first and second portions have a viscosity between 103 Poise and 106 Poise; and drawing the heated fiber preform into the fiber waveguide.
- 34. The method of claim 33, wherein |n1−n2|≧0.
- 35. The method of claim 34, wherein |n1−n2|≧0.
- 36. The method of claim 33, wherein the fiber perform is heated so that the first and second portions have a viscosity between 103 Poise and 105 Poise.
- 37. The method of claim 33, wherein the first portion includes a preform core.
- 38. The method of claim 37, wherein the second portion includes a preform cladding.
- 39. The method of claim 33, wherein the fiber preform comprises a preform confinement region, and the first and second portions are included in the fiber preform.
- 40. The method of claim 33, wherein the first material includes a first glass and the second material includes a second glass different from the first glass.
- 41. The method of claim 33, further comprising perturbing the fiber waveguide while drawing to form an optical modulation extending along the waveguide axis of the fiber waveguide.
- 42. The method of claim 33, wherein the fiber preform has a relative cross sectional structure that is preserved during the drawing.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to the following: U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/283,459, entitled “DIELECTRIC MATERIALS FOR MANUFACTURING OMNI-DIRECTIONAL WAVEGUIDE,” to Emilia Anderson et al., filed Apr. 12, 2001; U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/304,229, entitled “HIGH Q-CAVITIES IN OMNIGUIDE AND BRAGG FIBERS,” to Marin Solja{haeck over (c)}ić et al., filed Jul. 10, 2001; and, U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/291,106, entitled “AXIALLY MODULATED PHOTONIC BANDGAP FIBERS, METAL-COATED FIBERS, AND METHODS OF THEIR FABRICATION,” to Marin Solja{haeck over (c)}ić et al., filed May 15, 2001; The contents of all the above are incorporated herein by reference.
Provisional Applications (3)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60283459 |
Apr 2001 |
US |
|
60304229 |
Jul 2001 |
US |
|
60291106 |
May 2001 |
US |