Fluoride Glass Optical Fibres

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

   PDF

2. Perspective and overview

   • M. G. Drexhage

   Pages 1-31

3. Properties of fluoride glasses

   • J. M. Parker, P. W. France

   Pages 32-74

4. Propagation in optical fibres

   • J. V. Wright

   Pages 75-99

5. Manufacture of infrared fibres

   • P. W. France

   Pages 100-121

6. Intrinsic loss measurements

   • P. W. France

   Pages 122-131

7. Extrinsic absorption

   • P. W. France

   Pages 132-185

8. Extrinsic scattering

   • P. W. France

   Pages 186-204

9. Measured losses in fibres

   • M. W. Moore

   Pages 205-218

10. Mechanical properties

    • S. F. Carter

    Pages 219-237

11. Applications

    • P. W. France

    Pages 238-261

12. Back Matter

    Pages 263-266

    PDF

One of the most exciting prospects for optical fibres made from fluoride glasses is the possibility of providing long distance optical communication systems without the need for repeaters. This objective has stimulated much of the work into fluoride glasses over the past ten years, and has prompted the writing of this book. It has also emerged that fluoride fibres can transmit both visible and infrared energy (from about 0.5 to 5 ,urn) and that they have many applications outside the field of telecommunications. These include optical fibre sensors (particularly in remote infrared spectroscopy), laser surgery and fibre lasers. Several companies are now established in the field, and good quality fluoride fibres are available from sources throughout the USA, Europe and Japan. Moreover, the first commercial instruments based on fluoride fibres are finding their way to the market place and these fibres will undoubtedly form the basis of many more instruments yet to be developed. The work presented in this book represents the field both from an academic understanding of the materials and ways to convert them into fibre, and from a practical and commercial viewpoint. The principal author and some of the co­ authors are based at the British Telecom Research Laboratories in the UK.

• crystal
• crystallization
• glass
• growth
• mechanical properties
• oxidation

• British Telecom Research Laboratories, Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, UK

  P. W. France, M. W. Moore, S. F. Carter, J. V. Wright

• Galileo Electro-Optics Corporation, Sturbridge, USA

  M. G. Drexhage

• School of Materials, University of Sheffield, Elmfield, Sheffield, UK

  J. M. Parker

Policies and ethics