Evaluation of crystalline and chemically durable glass fibers for Erbium-YAG laser delivery systems

Glenn N. Merberg; Mahmoud R. Shahriari; James A. Harrington; George H. Sigel Jr.

doi:10.1117/12.18640

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1 May 1990 Evaluation of crystalline and chemically durable glass fibers for Erbium-YAG laser delivery systems

Glenn N. Merberg, Mahmoud R. Shahriari, James A. Harrington, George H. Sigel Jr.

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Proceedings Volume 1228, Infrared Fiber Optics II; (1990) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.18640
Event: OE/LASE '90, 1990, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Abstract

A power delivery system capable of delivering high energy densities of infrared radiation at 2.94 tm is required for the application of the Erbium-YAG laser in the medical industry. Conventional silica fibers have high intrinsic absorption coefficients in this spectral region, making them unsuitable for this application. Several alternative fibers were evaluated as candidates for delivering laser radiation at this wavelength, including single crystal fibers of sapphire and silicon, polycrystalline fibers of KRS-13, and glass fibers of fluorozirconate and fluoroaluminate compositions. For each of these, damage thresholds, fiber attenuation coefficients and maximum deliverable energies were determined. Commercially available fluorozirconate fibers proved to be the most promising candidates for this application, with a loss of under 40 dB/km and a damage threshold of over 1000 J/ cm2.

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Glenn N. Merberg, Mahmoud R. Shahriari, James A. Harrington, and George H. Sigel Jr. "Evaluation of crystalline and chemically durable glass fibers for Erbium-YAG laser delivery systems", Proc. SPIE 1228, Infrared Fiber Optics II, (1 May 1990); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.18640

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