MICROSTRUCTURED “OPTICAL” FIBERS

1. MICROSTRUCTURED “OPTICAL” FIBERS TEAM: Carlos P Ortiz Y Pino Duc Nguyen SPONSOR: Dr. Ravi Jain Mike Klopfer

2. General Outline • Team / Sponsor Responsibilities • Introduction • Project Description • Project Goals • Why this is a good project • Major milestones • Deliverables • Challenges and concerns • Future plans

3. Team/Sponsor Responsibilities Our team: • Carlos P Ortiz Y Pino– team leader, schedule group meetings (MW 2PM-6PM), draw tower and laser lab operator, design and create pre-form, primary researcher. • Duc Nguyen – time keeper, collect data, draw tower and laser lab operator, and secondary researcher. Our sponsor: • Dr. Ravi Jain – ECE professor, funding, verify our analysis. • Mike Klopler– grad-student, supervise the project, provide training and guidance.

4. Introduction • Conventional fiber optic cables experience increased power loss as laser wavelength are reduced. • (less than 850nm, visible light) • This is due to changes in refractive index from physical compression, tension and differences in the length of light paths.

5. Project Description • Therefore, in order to make fiber optic lasers feasible we need to develop a solution to minimize bend/power loss.

6. CHTM Fiber Draw Tower

7. Project Goals • Design and create a pre-form that will be used to form the Microstructure fiber • Use CHTM Draw Tower to draw fiber from pre-form (~125um). • Use laser lab for fiber characterization of bend loss. • If successful, design will be patented and a paper will be published. • Professional lab note book needs to be kept in order to patent.

8. Why this is a good project • Theoretical analysis of Optoelectronics and Photonics principles. • Access to the only production quality fiber draw tower at a University in the U.S. • A chance to develop a patentable solution that has immediate applications. • Exercise problem solving skills both theoretically and physically. • Encompasses both the design and manufacturing process.

9. Major Milestones • Become certified to operate the CHTM Fiber Draw Tower. • Develop a repeatable process for drawing a holey fiber. • Develop a design that will counter-act the effect of bend loss. • Develop test techniques to precisely analyze power loss using available equipment in laser lab. • Iterations of this processes will be completed until design is satisfactory for publication. • Get Published and Patent Design !!!

10. Deliverables • A microstructure “optical” fiber that is capable of being wrapped in a helical pattern (r = 10 cm) and channeling a laser source with a wavelength of 0.63 um with minimal bend loss. • Official lab notebook will be use to collect all data needed for publication.

11. Challenges and Concerns • Never been done before! • Process problems related to operating, and manufacturing with the fiber draw tower. • Possibility that design will not be achievable using fiber insert technique which will necessitate switching to the So-Gel method. • Assumptions that scale for using average refractive index might not be valid. • Finding the perfect parameter for the holey fiber before time expires.

12. Future Plans • Creating our first pre-form using our holey fiber design. • Fine tuning our manufacturing parameters so we can adjust the process based on results. • Determining if fiber insert technique is feasible. • Revise current design based on test data.

13. QUESTIONS ?