Fabrication of complex structures of Holey Fibers in chalcogenide glass

We report recent progress on fabrication of solid core microstructured fibers in chalcogenide glass. Several complex and regular holey fibers from Ga5Ge20Sb10S65 chalcogenide glass have been realized. We demonstrate that the "Stack & Draw" procedure is a powerful tool against crystallisation when used with a very stable chalcogenide glass. For a 3 ring multimode Holey Fiber, we measure the mode field diameter of the fundamental mode and compare it successfully with calculations using the multipole method. We also investigate, via numerical simulations, the behaviour of fundamental mode guiding losses of microstructured fibers as a function of the matrix refractive index, and quantify the advantage obtained by using a high refractive index glass such as chalcogenide instead of low index glass. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.