Competence Center for Specialty Optical Fibers

We report the use of the extrusion technique at highest temperatures to date (975 °C -1000 °C) for the fabrication of suspended core fibers (SCFs) from glass with molar composition 65 SiO2-20 Al2O3-15 La2O3 (SAL65). Through adjusting die design and fabrication conditions, extruded preforms for fibers with two different core sizes (1.2 μm and 3.1 μm) were successfully produced. Cross-sectional microstructure and material loss of these fibers highlight the potential of the extrusion technique for fabrication of microstructured optical fibers from glasses with high softening temperature and thus high thermal and mechanical stability.