Multiwavelength laser light transmission of hollow optical fiber from the visible to the mid-infrared

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.     

Hollow polycarbonate fiber for Er:YAG laser light delivery

We developed hollow fibers with polycarbonate (PC) capillaries for use as a supporting tube. The PC capillaries were prepared by using a glass-drawing technique. Hollow PC fibers are safer and more flexible than hollow glass fibers because no fragments are released when the fibers are broken in various applications. Inner coating layers of silver and cyclic olefin polymer (COP) enhanced the reflection rate at the Er:YAG laser light wavelength. Using these fibers, we attained low loss for Er:YAG laser light transmission. By adjusting the drawing temperature in the fabrication of the PC capillaries, we created a smooth inner surface and uniform PC capillaries. We also demonstrated low-loss properties for visible pilot beams.     

Hollow-core microstructured polymer optical fiber

We have fabricated microstructured polymer optical fibers that guide light in a hollow core using the photonic bandgap mechanism. The hollow core allows the use of polymer fibers to be extended to wavelength ranges where material absorption typically prohibits their use, with attenuation lower than the material loss observed in the infrared. The fabrication method is similar to other microstructured polymer optical fibers, which has favorable implications for the feasibility of manufacturing such bandgap fibers.     

吸收介质膜/金属空芯光纤的太赫兹波传输特性

介质/金属结构空芯光纤是一种有发展前景的太赫兹波传输媒质.介质膜在有效增加内面反射率从而降低传输损耗的同时,其材料吸收会引起附加损耗.讨论了介质材料吸收对太赫兹空芯光纤结构参数的影响.计算结果表明,相比于无吸收的理想介质,吸收介质的最优膜厚变小.最优折射率变大.综合考虑了光纤内直径、介质膜折射率和传输波长等因素,分析了介质膜的材料吸收容限.分析结果表明,吸收容限随光纤内直径减小或传输波长增大而减小.当光纤内直径很小或传输波长很大时,吸收容限可能不存在.分析结果对介质/金属太赫兹空芯光纤的设计和材料选择具有重要参考价值.     

Proton magnetic resonance imaging of flow motion of heavy water injected into a hollow fiber dialyzer filled with saline

Observations using MRI were performed for the motion of heavy water injected into a hollow fiber dialyzer. A cylindrical dialyzer houses a bundle of 10,000 hollow fibers. Because blood components permeate through the hollow fiber membrane from the interior to the exterior of the hollow fiber, which is the dialysate flow path, uniformity of dialysate flow is required. The dialyzer was initially filled with saline and heavy water was injected into the inlet port of the dialysate flow path. MRI tuned for protons could distinguish the injected heavy water from the already present saline. Due to the specific gravity difference, MRI could observe the sedimentation of the injected heavy water flowing beneath the already present saline. The uniformity of the dialysate flow was supported by the finding that the injected heavy water brought about uniform sedimentation and distributed the already present saline uniformly throughout the entire volume of the dialyzer.     

Optimal design for hollow fiber inner-coated by dielectric layers with surface roughness

We report the optimal design for hollow fiber inner-coated with metallic and multidielectric layers by using ray-optics theory. Transmission characteristics of the multilayer hollow fiber are more dependent on the film surface roughness in the IR region. Comparisons of fibers with smooth and rough films are made and discussed in detail. The optimal design for film thickness, inner radius, and the number of layers and refractive indices is presented. The calculation results are important for structure design, material selection, and fabrication when considering imperfections in film-coating techniques. Multilayer fibers are fabricated based on the calculation and experimental results agree with the theoretical ones.     

Optimum design of low-loss hollow OmniGuide fibers

The confinement-loss characters of hollow OmniGuide fibers (OGFs) are investigated. The OGFs with different cross-section geometric parameters have been analyzed with the aim of finding how parameters (such as core radius, thickness and number of cladding layer) are responsible for the fabricated low-loss hollow OGFs. It is shown that hollow OGFs can uniquely access less confinement loss unavailable to conventional Bragg fibers. We also derive the formulas for core radius, thickness and number of cladding layers. These results would be helpful for optimization designs and applications of low-loss hollow OGFs.     

空心微球气体总量抽样测量误差分析

 间接驱动内爆靶丸由外层CH涂层，内层玻璃球壳和内部充入的气体组成。当玻璃球外涂CH后，球内的气体只能抽检而没有无损测量方法。在大量实验和数据基础上，研究了液滴法制备空心玻璃微球气体渗透系数的差异和分布，利用数理统计方法对实验数据进行了分析和处理，计算了空心玻璃微球对氘气渗透系数的误差，微球预充气挑选方案产生的误差及分布。最后根据现在的抽样测量方案计算了误判的概率。     

Dislocation mechanism of hollow fiber sliding during ceramic nanocomposite fracture

A dislocation model is proposed for describing the sliding of hollow fibers (and, in particular, carbon nanotubes) as a mechanism of elastic energy relaxation near cracks in ceramic nanocomposites. In this model, the sliding of a hollow cylindrical fiber occurs through the formation of a prismatic circular dislocation loop gliding along the boundary between the fiber and the matrix. The energy characteristics of this process are calculated, and the critical stress required for the barrierless nucleation and glide of such a loop is determined. It is shown that the critical stress increases with the ratio between the shear moduli of the matrix and the fiber and (over a wide range of changes in this ratio) with the fiber wall thickness.     

Hollow-fiber delivery of high-power pulsed Nd:YAG laser light

We propose hollow fibers for delivery of high-peak-power pulsed Nd:YAG laser light. Hollow fibers with an internal polymer layer were fabricated by a liquid-phase coating technique. We reduced the losses of the fibers in the near-infrared region by producing a silver film that was very smooth owing to use of an ultrasonic wave for mixing of the silver and the reducer solutions in the silver-plating process. The straight losses of the 1-m-long polymer-coated fibers were 0.3 dB for the 700-mum bore size and 0.1 dB for the 1000-mum bore fiber.     

New and simple method for fabricating polymer-coated silver hollow fibers with large mechanical strength

A new method is proposed for fabricating polymer-coated silver hollow glass fibers to avoid the flexibility deterioration after the curing process. Transmission properties of fibers made by the two procedures with and without curing process are compared. Little difference was observed in the transmission properties at the wavelength 2.94 μm of Er:YAG laser light and 10.6 μm of CO₂ laser light. The polymer layer is shown to be stable after 2-h, 5-W, continuous wave CO₂ laser light transmission.     

Properties of hollow bent output tips in CO2 laser light delivery system

In order to change the output direction of laser light in a small operation space, two types of hollow bent output tips are proposed for medical laser light delivery system. One is the hollow fiber insert-type, which is of the minimum bending radius of 3 cm. The other type, based on a fixed-bent pyrex glass tube, is of the minimum bending radius of 2 mm. Both types of tips are inner-coated with a silver layer and a cyclic olefin polymer (COP) layer. Loss properties for CO₂ laser light are clarified for the insert-type tips with various bending angles and radii. For the fixed-bent tips, the losses are around 0.7 dB, which are almost not dependent on the bending angles and radii. Transmissions of the tips remain undamaged after 1-h-delivery of 5 W output CO₂ laser light. A nickel layer is coated on the outside wall of fixed-bent tips so as to increase the mechanical strength and lower the surface temperature. Characteristics of surface temperature distribution and time response were experimentally discussed. Transmission properties of pilot beams are also evaluated.     

TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> microstructures by inversion of macroporous silicon using atomic layer deposition

An approach is presented which is capable of fabricating arbitrarily shaped three-dimensional microstructures. Two methods—namely, macroporous silicon and atomic layer deposition—are combined to realize structures in the micrometer and submicrometer range. Using TiO₂ as an example, the fabrication of single hollow objects as well as complex network structures is shown. The scalability and the wide range of applicable materials are the key points of this method for future applications.     

内窥镜的红外激光传输用柔性空芯光纤的研制

通过理论计算确立了多功能介质-金属结构空芯光纤的结构参量,优化了液相镀膜法的有关条件,明确了具体制作参量。制作了以聚碳酸酯毛细管为基管的,高柔韧性的,可同时低损耗传输红外目标波长激光和可见导航光红外的空芯光纤。对光纤传输性能进行了测试。在2.94μm波长的Er∶YAG和0.63μm波长的红色半导体激光器的直线损耗分别为0.4 dB/m和3 dB/m。组装在医疗内窥镜中的柔性空芯光纤,在先端以0.9 cm半径135°角弯曲时,对Er∶YAG激光仍有近70%的传输效率;绿色导航光在内窥镜中的的损耗值为11 dB,绿色指示点在内窥镜的视窗中清晰可见。结果表明此种光纤在内窥镜的激光传输方面有重要的应用价值。     

Infrared-laser delivery system based on polymer-coated hollow fibers

Infrared Er : YAG laser delivery systems based on hollow fibers with an internal polymer layer has been developed. The system consists of a hollow fiber as the delivery medium, a launching coupler for effective coupling between the laser beam and the fiber, and a sealed hollow-fiber tip attached at the output end of the fiber. Fabrication process of the fiber and attachment of the delivery system is reported.     

Characterization of NiO–yttria stabilised zirconia (YSZ) hollow fibres for use as SOFC anodes

NiO–yttria stabilised zirconia (YSZ) hollow fibres with varying NiO content and a desired microstructure were prepared using a phase inversion technique and sintering. By controlling the fabrication parameters, microstructures with predominately finger-like pores near the inner and outer surfaces and a denser central layer with sponge-like pores were produced, for use as substrates for anode-supported hollow fibre solid oxide fuel cells (HF-SOFC). The NiO–YSZ fibres were reduced to Ni–YSZ at 250–700 °C in hydrogen flowing at 20 cm³ min^? 1 to produce Ni–YSZ hollow fibres, the mechanical and electrical properties of which were determined subsequently, reduction to Ni being verified by X-ray diffraction. The effects of NiO concentration and sintering temperature of the fibre precursors on the conductivity, strength and porosity of the reduced hollow fibres were investigated to assess their suitability for use as anode substrates. As expected, increasing Ni concentration increased electrical conductivities and decreased mechanical strength. Sintering temperature had a critical effect in producing axially conductive hollow fibres of sufficient mechanical strength for use as SOFC anodes. The hollow fibres retained their initial microstructure through the reduction process, though ca. 41% volume contraction is predicted on reduction of NiO to Ni, producing increased porosity in the reduced fibres. The mean porosity of the Ni–YSZ hollow fibres was ca. 60% and ca. 40% after sintered at 1250 °C and 1400 °C, respectively. The mean pore sizes for all the fibres after reduction varied between ca. 0.3 and 1 µm. The hollow fibres produced with 60% NiO, of length ca. 300 mm, electrical conductivities of ca. (1–2.25) × 10⁵ S m^? 1 and a porosity of ca. 43% are being used currently to construct and test the electrical behaviour of an anode-supported HF-SOFC.     

Chemical Analysis of Patterned Mask Cleaning in Organic Light Emitting Diode Fabrication with Raman Spectroscopy

Abstract

Despite the continually improving efficiency of the fabrication process used to manufacture the organic light emitting diode (OLED) emitter layer, which uses a shadow mask, a method for the cleaning and recycling of the shadow mask is still lacking. One of the main reasons for this is the absence of a quantitative/qualitative method to analyze the cleaning solution using simple in situ measurements. Recently, Raman analysis has become popular because of its convenience, ease of use, and suitability for in situ measurements. Thus, Raman spectroscopy has the capacity to analyze the solution used for cleaning shadow masks. A particular advantage of this approach is that it can detect organic contaminants in the cleaning solution, which are caused by the residue that remains on the shadow mask after the OLED emitter layer fabrication process. Raman spectroscopy has an advantage for analyzing solution condition and contaminant detection between the cleaning solution and organic chemical by using the Raman peak and fluorescence integration method.     

Fabrication of ionic polymer actuator with graphene nanocomposite electrodes and its characterization

In the present study, a novel ionic polymer actuator employing a graphene nanocomposite (GN) as its electrodes was fabricated. By a conventional solvent mixing of a graphene nanopowder and polystyrene, a GN solution was prepared. The solution was then utilized in a dip coating process of an ionic polymer membrane, forming a thin liquid GN layer on the surfaces of the ionic polymer membrane. After removing the solvent from the coated film, the solidified conducting GN layer could be obtained, which was used as the electrodes in the ionic polymer actuator. An electrical property of the GN layer formed by the present method was characterized, confirming the possibility of the present GN in the actuator applications. Simple and reverse bending motions of the fabricated actuator were also investigated, verifying the usefulness of both the GN layer and the present simple fabrication method.     

Optical properties of AgI/Ag infrared hollow fiber in the visible wavelength region

We report on AgI/Ag infrared hollow fiber with low-loss in visible region. Improved methods of silver plating and iodination were proposed to fabricate the hollow fiber. The surface roughness of the silver layer and the silver iodide layer was reduced by the pretreatment with an SnCl2 solution and low iodination temperature. Losses for the Er:YAG and green laser light were 0.4 and 7dB/m. The loss property of green laser beam was low to deliver a pilot beam for the invisible infrared laser light. Owing to the smooth and uniform AgI film, the loss spectrum of the hollow fiber showed clear interference peaks in the visible region. An empirical formula for AgI material dispersion was derived, which is of special importance for the design of high-performance AgI/Ag hollow fiber.     

Simplified technique of fabricating dielectric-coated silver hollow nickel waveguides by the outer-coating method of the liquid phase process

Considerable simplification has been made in the fabrication of rugged dielectric-coated silver hollow nickel waveguides. The new method is based on the outer-coating method and does not use any expensive equipment; such as RF-sputtering apparatus. In order to show its effectiveness; polyimide-coated silver hollow nickel-waveguides have been successfully fabricated with small attenuation.