The CO₂ laser radiation (λ=10.6) is very useful in many fields especially in medicine. For this application plastic hollow waveguides are very suitable, since they are flexible and nontoxic. Such plastic tubes were devised and the obtained results are given in this paper. The transmission of infrared radiation was made possible by covering the inside with metallic films. To achieve high transmission, even when the waveguides were bent, an inside dielectric film was added over the metallic one. Theoretical and experimental investigation of the energy transmission and the output power distribution was done. The theoretical results were obtained based on a ray model calculation. Experimental results have shown an attenuation of about 1.5 dB/m for a straight waveguide and a transmitted power up to 14 watts for 55 cm length and 3.5 mm inner diameter of the waveguide. For a bent waveguide (radius of bending 15 cm) attenuation of 5-6 dB/m and maximum of 6 watts was achieved.

Date Published: 1 January 1987
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 0843, Infrared Optical Materials and Fibers V, (1 January 1987); doi: 10.1117/12.968218

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0843:
Infrared Optical Materials and Fibers V
Paul Klocek, Editor(s)