FRG: Glass Science, Processing and Optical Properties of Tellurite Fibers

Lehigh University, Bethlehem PA

Investigators

Abstract

NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Optical fibers have become a critical component for many applications, from optical communications and the internet to intelligent sensing, manufacturing and medical, and suggesting an even broader field of new applications. Most of the fibers presently used are made of silica glass but some of its properties are not sufficient for these new applications. In response to this need, researchers at Lehigh University are developing new fibers, made of (tellurite) glasses with enhanced optical properties and with new internal structures further enhancing these properties. This project will not only contribute to the development of these new fibers but also provide valuable scientific information on the transformation of these glasses when undergoing the fiber manufacturing process, and on its relationship to their final optical properties. For this reason, we are partnering with a small but very successful company, which is very interested in expanding the type of fibers they are already manufacturing. This being a highly multidisciplinary and fast-evolving technological field, the students involved in the project will be exposed to a broad scope of technical issues of very current interest. In addition to training graduate students, this project will offer short term research opportunities to promote interest in science and engineering in under-represented student groups at the undergraduate level. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Many of today's communication and intelligent sensing applications combine electronics with photonics. However, there is now growing interest in applications that would be "all-optical", eliminating as much as possible the need for electronics. For this to become a reality, it is first necessary to develop new glasses and fibers with enhanced nonlinear optical properties. The researchers in this project are developing new soft glass fibers with such properties, in particular using modified tellurite glasses. In addition, these fibers are being designed and manufactured to have special microstructures that enhance their waveguiding and nonlinear optical properties. An original and versatile way to "preform" the glass in order to manufacture these microstructures is through the use of an extrusion technique. The originality of this project is to combine three different research areas into a coherent program of study: glass science, a study of the effect of forming or the manufacturing process on the structure and properties of the glasses and, finally, a study of the resulting wave-guiding and optical properties of the fiberized glass. The vertically-integrated nature of the project has attracted the attention of a small but very successful fiber company with which we are partnering for the development of these and other fibers. As described, this project exposes students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels to a variety of topics, and brings them to understand and appreciate the interrelationships between these different topics and areas of study as well as their relevance to all-optical applications. It also trains them in the use of a corresponding variety of cutting-edge research tools.