Extrusion of hollow waveguide preforms with a one-dimensional photonic bandgap structure

An extrusion technique is used to make an all-dielectric, hollow waveguide preform. The structure consists of radially alternating dielectric layers of high/low refractive index pairs. By requiring that the two dielectric materials have a high index contrast, it is possible to make a preform that will have a photonic bandgap structure when drawn into a fiber optic. The preform is made by an extrusion process in which a stack-of-plates, composed of alternating disks of chalcogenide glass and a polymer, is extruded through a die into both solid and hollow-core structures. Laminar flow during extrusion forces the periodicity from an axial to a radial orientation in the final extruded preform. For these experiments the high index material was arsenic selenide glass (As2Se3,n=2.6) and the low index material was polysulfone (PSU,n=1.55), which gives an index contrast of 1.68. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.