Infrared Imaging Fiber Optic Bundles

The objective of this proposal is to develop infrared imaging fiber optics bundles for use in 1-12 µm wavelength region. The bundles will have a length up to 10 meters with at least 10,000 fibers having a diameter of about 30 µm. They will be able to be coupled with the new generation of cooled or un-cooled IR focal plane array detectors with individual pixel size of 30 to 50µm. We propose to use two types of chalcogenide glass fibers to cover the whole wavelength range of 1-12 µm. One covers the wavelength region of 1-5 µm with an attenuation level lower than 1 dB/m. The other can cover the wavelength region of 5 and 12 µm and the loss will be less than 1 dB/m, too. We will use newly developed preform fabrication method to produce preform for low-loss fiber drawing. We will also investigate the feasibility of infrared fibers based on infrared transparent glass ceramics that offer the advantage of the chalcogenide glasses transparency, and a better resistance to crack, overcoming potentially the well-known brittleness of chalcogenide glasses.