Optical fiber lasers offers the advantage of being relatively compact and efficient. However, the materials such as fluoride and chalcogenide glasses used for their fabrication must be exempt of defects in order to make efficient laser systems. However, most existing quality control techniques are not compatible with chalcogenide fibers because of their limited transparency in the visible spectral range. For this reason, the Université Laval’s Centre d’optique, photonique et laser (COPL), in Quebec City, Canada, has developed a novel non-destructive testing (NDT) methodology based on infrared imaging to address this problem. The results show how this simple screening technique eases the selection of high-quality fibers for the design of high-power mid-IR lasers.

Date Published: 21 October 2016
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 9987, Electro-Optical and Infrared Systems: Technology and Applications XIII, 998706 (21 October 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2240002

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9987:
Electro-Optical and Infrared Systems: Technology and Applications XIII
David A. Huckridge; Reinhard Ebert; Stephen T. Lee, Editor(s)