Extrusion of chalcogenide glass preforms and drawing to multimode optical fibers

We report on viscosity of a Ge17As18Se65 glass over the temperature range of 280-420 degrees C and the successful co-extrusion and fiber-drawing of two chalcogenide glass boules to form a core/clad. pair. The coextrusion produces a preform with optimum diameter stability and core/clad. glass ratio, and minimum defects at the core/clad. interface in the middle 120-200 mm region of a 270 mm long preform. Core/clad. fiber is drawn successfully from the extruded preform. An optical loss of 1.7 dB m(-1) at 1666 cm(-1) (6.0 mu m) and 6.7 dB m(-1) at 6649 cm(-1) (1.55 mu m) is reported. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.