Gradually tapered hollow glass waveguides for the transmission of CO2 laser radiation

Hollow glass waveguides with bores tapered from 1000 to 500 mum and from 700 to 500 mum over a length of 2 m were coated with silver and silver iodide inner films. These waveguides were designed for low attenuation at the 10.6-mum CO2 laser wavelength. The straight losses, which were measured to be 0.8 and 1.6 dB/m, respectively, decreased when the guides were bent. A simple ray-trajectory model is presented to explain this unexpected behavior. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.