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WO2025021671A1 - Guides d'ondes optiques flexibles - Google Patents

Guides d'ondes optiques flexibles Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2025021671A1
WO2025021671A1 PCT/EP2024/070502 EP2024070502W WO2025021671A1 WO 2025021671 A1 WO2025021671 A1 WO 2025021671A1 EP 2024070502 W EP2024070502 W EP 2024070502W WO 2025021671 A1 WO2025021671 A1 WO 2025021671A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
waveguide
structural elements
fiber bundles
flexible
transport direction
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Pending
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PCT/EP2024/070502
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English (en)
Inventor
Hubertus Russert
Andreas KOGLBAUER
Andrea Ravagli
James Marro
Kevin Tabor
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Schott AG
Schott North America Inc
Original Assignee
Schott AG
Schott North America Inc
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Application filed by Schott AG, Schott North America Inc filed Critical Schott AG
Publication of WO2025021671A1 publication Critical patent/WO2025021671A1/fr
Pending legal-status Critical Current
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
    • G02B6/04—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings formed by bundles of fibres
    • G02B6/06—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings formed by bundles of fibres the relative position of the fibres being the same at both ends, e.g. for transporting images

Definitions

  • the invention relates to flexible optical waveguides for transmitting electromagnetic waves, in particular for transmitting image information, and to methods of manufacturing waveguides, in particular image guides.
  • Traditional image guides typically comprise a plurality of individual optical fibers, each of which comprises a core and a cladding surrounding the core, the optical fibers being assembled as a bundle and arranged in cross-section in a grid with a one-to-one relationship between the light input surface and the light output surface to form a plurality of pixels.
  • each pixel serves to transmit a brightness value or color information via the image guide.
  • a leached fiber bundle waveguide includes a large number of optical fibers which may be arranged in an ordered array.
  • the leached fiber bundle waveguide may be formed by drawing a fiber bundle preform having a number of pre-arranged optic fiber preforms, in the form of glass rods and/or tubes, together with at least some leachable glass spacers located between or encapsulating each of the desired optic fiber preforms.
  • the fiber bundle preform is drawn down to the desired size for the optical fibers, which are fused together with the leachable glass spacers as they are drawn, with the leachable glass spacers maintaining a space between the individual optic fibers.
  • the ends of the fused optical fiber bundle can be protected with a soft, etch resistant coating, and the leachable glass spacers are leached from the fused optical fiber bundle, typically using an acid etch bath.
  • the individual optical fibers in the middle portion of the leached optical fiber bundle are free to move and allow the leached fiber bundle to be flexed, while the ends are still held together.
  • Ferrules can then be installed on the ends to protect the ends from damage.
  • the flexible middle portion may be placed within a flexible outer sheath to prevent the individual optical fibers from being damaged.
  • a continuous light-conducting fiber is helically wound onto a mandrel in order to form adjacent convolutions (i.e. , windings) about the mandrel.
  • a predetermined "ends region" of the successive convolutions is laterally bonded such that the portions of the continuous fiber within that predetermined ends region are fixed in side-by-side relationship with each other prior to the removal of the helix from the mandrel.
  • the bonding is conventionally achieved by application of a suitable glue, cement or epoxy.
  • Flexible waveguides may be manufactured similar to the known processes to manufacture flexible leached fiber bundles and flexible wound fiber bundles, except the leachable cladding and the bonding agent are optional.
  • the input and output ends of the waveguide may be fused or bonded together, such as shown by element 6 in Fig. 1 C .
  • the invention further relates to a method for producing a flexible waveguide, in particular a waveguide having one or more of the features described herein, for transmitting electromagnetic waves from a proximal end of the waveguide to a distal end of the waveguide along a transport direction extending between the proximal and distal ends, the method comprising forming a fiber bundle that extends along the transport direction comprising a plurality of first structural elements and a plurality of second structural elements that differ from the first structural elements, whereby electromagnetic waves introduced into the proximal end are confined within a cross-sectional region transverse to the transport direction due to the difference between the first structural elements and the second structural elements.
  • Fig. 3 Schematic perspective views of two fiber bundles having (a) two types of structural elements that are non-uniformly distributed and (b) a plurality of structural elements of non-uniform refractive indices (plurality of types) and/or non-uniform geometries (diameters).
  • the distance between and arrangement of the structural elements with respect to one another can be defined by a suitable arrangement of the leachable material when a leachable material is used.
  • the fiber bundle preforms obtained in this way are then drawn out under the action of heat using known processes until the desired fiber or fiber bundle cross section is reached.
  • the spacers when used are fused to the optical fibers and fill the space between the individual optical fibers.
  • the ends of the fused fiber bundles are provided with a protective layer which is resistant to acids and/or lyes, and the spacers and cladding located in the unprotected regions are removed in hot acid or lye baths or in deionized water baths.
  • the fiber bundles are uncovered or separated from the spacers and cladding if they are present and the waveguide becomes flexible at these locations.
  • the ends when spacers or a leachable cladding are used remain connected to one another and therefore rigid and fixed, or when spacers or a leachable cladding are not used, the ends may be fused or adhered to become rigid and fixed.
  • each of the one or more optical fiber bundles comprising the first and second structural elements (10a, 10b) can be surrounded by a leachable cladding (3) as shown in Fig. 1 B.
  • the waveguide (100) becomes flexible because one or more of the fiber bundles (1) are not bound to each other along at least a middle distance of the transport direction (5) such that the waveguide (100) has a bending radius of less than 50 mm.
  • the waveguide is flexed, there is a spacing between each of the fiber bundles for example due to the absence of the leachable cladding after the leachable cladding is leached away.
  • a non-leachable cladding (7) can surround the optical fiber bundles to provide mechanical stability and/or for optical purposes.
  • Fig. 1 C shows an embodiment where item 6 is a portion of the leachable cladding that is not leached away at the ends of the waveguide or a bonding agent introduced at the ends of the waveguide, where both can be used to fuse or bond the fiber bundles together at the proximal end and fuse or bond the fiber bundles together the distal end (4) to provide rigidity.
  • Waveguides can also be flexible when they are made from a single fiber bundle without the need to introduce and leach away a leachable cladding.
  • the optically active area over the cross section at the proximal and distal ends of the waveguide is much greater, for example at least 75%, at least 80%, at least 85%, at least 90% or at least 95%.
  • the waveguide (100) is flexible because one or more of the fiber bundles (1) are not bound to each other. In other words, there is a separation between one or more of the fiber bundles (1) at the middle distance which allows adjacent fiber bundles (1) to freely move with respect to each other.
  • the waveguides (100) can therefore have a bending radius of less than 50 mm.
  • the bending radius is a measurement of the flexibility of the waveguide.
  • a waveguide has a bending radius of X when it can be bent 360 degrees around a mandrel having a radius of X.
  • a waveguide has a bending radius of 50 mm when it can be bent 360 degrees around a mandrel having a radius of 50 mm.
  • the waveguide has a bending radius of less than 50 mm, less than 40 mm, less than 30 mm, less than 20 mm, less than 10 mm, less than 7 mm, less than 4 mm, and/or less than 1 mm.
  • Such waveguides (100) for transmitting electromagnetic waves from a proximal end (2) of the waveguide (100) to a distal end (4) of the waveguide along a transport direction (5) extending between the proximal and distal end can each comprise one or more fiber bundles (1) extending along the transport direction (5) each comprising a plurality of first structural elements (10a) and a plurality of second structural elements (10b) that have a different refractive index from the first structural elements (10a), wherein the waveguide (100) is flexible such that it has a bending radius of less than 50 mm because the one or more fiber bundles (1) are not bound to each other along at least a middle distance of the transport direction (5).
  • the waveguides When the waveguides transmit image information according to the principle of transverse Anderson localization, there is a random distribution of the plurality of first and second structural elements.
  • the first structural elements are a plurality of cores and the second structural elements are claddings surrounding each core, and the refractive index of the second structural elements is lower than the refractive index of the first structural elements.
  • the waveguide (1) has a resolution of at least 128.0 Ip / mm in a negative USAF target.
  • the cross-sectional region 20 of the first structural element corresponds to the cross-sectional area of the waveguide (100) minus the holes in this area defined by the cavities, while the cross-sectional regions 20 of the second structural elements 10b each correspond to the cross-sectional area of the cavities.
  • the cavities in the main body may also be filled with a second material, such that the second structural elements 10b correspond to the filled cavities.
  • the cross-sectional regions 20 of the second structural elements 10b are non-uniform in that their positions are non-uniformly distributed over the cross-section, in particular do not lie on a periodic grid.
  • the fiber bundles (1) shown in cross-section in Figs. 2(d) and (e) correspond in some aspects to the fiber bundles (1) shown in Figs. 2(a) and (b), respectively, but having structural elements of three types 10a, 10b, 10c having different refractive indices.
  • cavities in the structural element 10a formed as a base body may be filled with different media.
  • the structural elements 10b, 10c have in particular a non-uniformity in that their refractive index differs from each other.
  • Fig. 3 shows two further examples of fiber bundles (1) which can be used in particular as waveguides.
  • the fiber bundles (1) comprise a plurality of first and second structural elements 10, each of which extends from a proximal end 2 to a distal end 4 of the fiber bundle (1) along the transport direction 5 and is, for example, rod-shaped.
  • the fiber bundle (1) shown in Fig. 3(a) has a plurality of first structural elements 10a and a plurality of second structural elements 10b.
  • the structural elements have a non- uniform arrangement in that the first structural elements 10a and the second structural elements 10b are non-uniformly arranged and/or distributed.
  • 3(b) comprises a plurality of structural elements 10, wherein in this example the cross-sectional regions of the structural elements have non-uniform geometries.
  • the geometries may differ in that the diameters of the structural elements or their cross-sectional regions differ from each other.
  • the structural elements 10 in each of Figs. 3(a) and 3(b) may exhibit a non-uniformity in that the refractive indices of the structural elements differ from one another.
  • a discrete number of different refractive indices for example two, three, four, etc. may be provided.
  • Fig. 4 shows a cross-section of a fiber bundle (1) which corresponds in some aspects to the fiber bundle (1) shown in Fig. 3(a).
  • the fiber bundle (1) shown in Fig. 4 has a plurality of, in particular rodshaped, structural elements 10, namely a plurality of a first structural elements 10a and a plurality of a second structural elements 10b, the structural elements 10 being arranged in cross-section on a hexagonal lattice. At least one of the structural elements 10, or its cross-sectional area 20, is equidistant from, and preferably adjacent to, six immediately adjacent structural elements 10, or their cross-sectional areas 20.
  • Fig. 5 shows steps of a method of manufacturing a waveguide according to a multi-draw method.
  • a plurality of fiber bundles are assembled to form a preform 30 and drawn into length (Fig. 5a).
  • the fiber bundles may be, for example, an arrangement of structural elements 10 or 10a, b, for example, according to Fig. 4, or alternative arrangements, for example, according to those shown in Fig. 2(a) to (e), which may be already drawn out in a known manner.
  • the assembled and elongated plurality of fiber bundles (“multi-fiber”) are then disassembled into sections and again assembled into a preform 40 (Fig. 5b, "multi-multi-assembly”).
  • the preform 40 can then again be drawn to length (Fig. 5c), and if necessary again broken down into sections and assembled (Fig. 5d).
  • the assembly thus obtained can be fused at the ends by applying heat and/or pressure, and in particular under vacuum (Fig. 5e).
  • the assembled fiber bundles (“Multi-Fiber”, here "M1" drawn to length can be assembled unrotated relative to one another (Fig. 6a) or rotated relative to one another (Fig. 6b) during assembly into a further preform.
  • sections from at least two different assembled fiber bundles (“M1", “M2”) drawn into length can be assembled unrotated (Fig. 6c) or rotated relative to one another (Fig. 6d).
  • the fiber bundles can also be or are arranged unrotated or rotated relative to one another when the first preform is assembled.
  • Fig. 7 shows some fiber bundles (1 ), each with a plurality of structural elements of a first type and a plurality of structural elements of a second type (and sometimes further types in Fig. 7d).
  • the fiber bundles (1) shown here do not have any matrix material, rather the structural elements are neighboring each other.
  • Fig. 7a shows approximately a fiber bundle (1) having a plurality of structural elements 10a and a plurality of structural elements 10b having different refractive indices.
  • Fig. 7b shows a fiber bundle (1 ) having a plurality of structural elements 10d and a plurality of structural elements 10e, which have different refractive indices and a different substructure, the substructure being defined by sub-structural elements 10a and 10b (having refractive indices a and b) and 10a and 10c (having refractive indices a and c), respectively.
  • the substructure here is that the structural elements 10d and 10e are formed as core-shell systems, with the cores being different.
  • Fig. 7c similarly shows a fiber bundle (1 ) having a plurality of structural elements 10d and a plurality of structural elements 10e, which have different refractive indices and a different substructure, the substructure being defined by the sub-structural elements 10a and 10b (having refractive indices a and b) and 10c and 10b (having refractive indices c and b), respectively.
  • the substructure here is that the structural elements 10d and 10e are formed as core-cladding systems, with the claddings differing.
  • Fig. 7d similarly shows a fiber bundle (1 ) having a plurality of structural elements 10e, a plurality of structural elements 10f, a plurality of structural elements 10g, and a plurality of structural elements 10h, which have different refractive indices and a different substructure, wherein the substructure is represented by the sub-structural elements 10a and 10b (having refractive indices a and b), resp. 10a and 10c (having refractive indices a and c) and 10b and 10d (having refractive indices b and d) and 10c and 10d (having refractive indices c and d), respectively.
  • the substructure here is that the structural elements 10e, 10f, 10g and 10h are formed as core-shell systems, with both the shells and the cores being different.
  • Fig. 7e shows a fiber bundle (1 ) having a plurality of structural elements 10c and a plurality of structural elements 10d having different geometries and a different substructure, wherein the substructure of the structural element 10c is defined by the substructural elements 10a and 10b (having refractive indices a and b and a first core diameter), and the substructure of the structural element 10d is defined by the substructural elements 10a and 10b (having refractive indices a and b and a second core diameter).
  • Fig. 7f shows a fiber bundle (1) having a plurality of structural elements 10c and a plurality of structural elements 10d, which have different geometries and a different substructure, wherein the substructure of the structural element 10c is defined by the substructural elements 10a and 10b (having refractive indices a and b and a centrally positioned core), and the substructure of the structural element 10d is defined by the substructural elements 10a and 10b (having refractive indices a and b and an eccentrically positioned core).
  • first structural elements (10a) can be fused to one or more of the second structural elements (10b).
  • the second structural element (10b) can be an air channel located within a matrix formed from the first structural element (1 Oa).
  • Each individual first structural element (1 Oa) and each individual second structural element (10b) do not need to be surrounded by a cladding.
  • a plurality of the first structural elements (10a) and a plurality of the second structural elements (10b) can be randomly arranged when viewed in a cross-section of the fiber bundle (1).
  • the first structural element (1 Oa) and the second structural element (1 Ob) can have identical compositions but different diameters when viewed in a cross-section of the fiber bundle (1).
  • a method of manufacturing a waveguide (100) for transmitting electromagnetic waves from a proximal end (2) of the waveguide (100) to a distal end (4) of the waveguide (100) along a transport direction (5) extending between the proximal and distal ends can comprise the steps of forming one or more fiber bundles (1) that extend along the transport direction (5) each comprising a plurality of first structural elements (10a) and a plurality of second structural elements (10b) that differ from the first structural elements (10a), whereby electromagnetic waves introduced into the proximal end (2) are confined within a cross-sectional region transverse to the transport direction (5) due to the difference between the first structural elements (10a) and the second structural elements (10b).
  • the flexible waveguides described herein may have a 128.0 Ip / mm in a negative USAF target.
  • the resolution is determined by having at least ten people skilled in the art of fiber optic image analysis view a negative image of a USAF target through a microscope with a field of view that surrounds Groups 6 and 7 only and minimizes the dead space around the perimeter.
  • the microscope should have a resolution that is good enough to resolve more details when viewing the target directly without the waveguide as compared to viewing the target through the waveguide, in order to determine that the waveguide is the limiting factor not the microscope.
  • the at least ten people should view the target through the microscope plus waveguide at two perspectives that are 45 degrees apart.
  • Each of the at least ten people will identify the smallest Group and Element pairing (and its corresponding resolution value in Ip / mm) where they can resolve three horizontal lines and three vertical lines.
  • the resolution is the average of the at least ten Group and Element selections in terms of line pairs per millimeter.
  • Group 7, Element 1 has a resolution of 128.0 line pairs per millimeter (Ip / mm) and Group 7, Element 2, has a resolution of 143.7 Im / mm, and the resolution which corresponds to 5 selections of 128.0 Ip / mm and 5 selections of 143.7 Ip / mm is 135.9.
  • the resolution is at least 128.0 Ip / mm (Group 7, Element 1), at least 143.7 Ip / mm (Group 7, Element 2), at least 161.3 Ip / mm (Group 7, Element 3), at least 181.0 Ip / mm (Group 7, Element 4), at least 203.2 Ip / mm (Group 7, Element 5), at least 228.1 Ip / mm (Group 7, Element 2), at least 256.0 Ip / mm (Group 8, Element 1), or at least 287.4 Ip / mm (Group 8, Element 2).
  • the waveguide has a multi-scale structural similarity index measure (MS-SSIM) greater than 0.25.
  • the measurements conditions for the purposes of calculating the MS-SSIM herein are 300-1 , OOOx magnification.
  • the SSIM is defined as: with a, p, y being the parameters to define the relative importance of the components l(x,y), c(x,y) and s(x,y), which can be understood as the measures for luminescence, contrast and structure comparison:
  • the SSIM lacks the variability of the human image perception to different sampling densities or observation distances.
  • the Multi scale - structural similarity index measure (MS- SSIM) is considered [Z. Wang, E. P. Simoncelli and A. C. Bovik, "Multiscale structural similarity for image quality assessment," The Thrity-Seventh Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems & Computers, 2003, 2003, pp. 1398-1402 Vol.2, doi: 10.1109/ACSSC.2003.1292216.]:
  • contrast cj (x, y) and structural comparison sj(x,y) is calculated along with the luminance IM(x,y) of the scale M image.
  • images of the Groups 6 and 7 of positive USAF51 targets groups in different magnifications were taken, where the blank target image serves as the reference image, and the one taken through the image guide is the sample target image.
  • the images where aligned and cropped to the same size using a template matching algorithm.
  • the image has to be divided into a series of non-overlapping subimages.
  • the size of the subimages is defined by the largest rectangular area that can be transmitted through the waveguide.
  • the MS-SSIM and its area percentage of the composed image are calculated.
  • the area-weighted sum constitutes the MS-SSIM of the complete image.
  • the current disclosure relates to one or more of the following embodiments.
  • Embodiment 1 A flexible waveguide (100) for transmitting electromagnetic waves from a proximal end (2) of the waveguide (100) to a distal end (4) of the waveguide (100) along a transport direction (5) extending between the proximal and distal ends comprising: one or more fiber bundles (1) extending along the transport direction (5) each comprising a random distribution of a plurality of first structural elements (10a) and a plurality of second structural elements (10b) that have a different refractive index from the first structural elements (10a) such that the waveguides transmit image information along the transport direction (5) according to the principle of transverse Anderson localization, wherein one or more of the fiber bundles (1) are not bound to each other along at least a middle distance of the transport direction (5) such that the waveguide (100) has a bending radius of less than 50 mm.
  • Embodiment 2. Flexible waveguide (100) according to the preceding embodiment, wherein the bending radius is less than 20 mm.
  • Embodiment 3 Flexible waveguide (100) according to one or more of the preceding embodiments, wherein the one or more fiber bundles comprise a third structural element.
  • Embodiment 4 Flexible waveguide (100) according to one or more of the preceding embodiments, wherein the one or more fiber bundles are fused or bonded together at the proximal end (2) and are fused or bonded together at the distal end (4).
  • Embodiment 5 Flexible waveguide (100) according to one or more of the preceding embodiments, wherein the one or more fiber bundles comprises a third structural element which is a leachable cladding, wherein the leachable cladding fuses the ends of the one or more fiber bundles together at the proximal end (2) and fuses the ends of the one or more fiber bundles together at the distal end (4).
  • the leachable cladding fuses the ends of the one or more fiber bundles together at the proximal end (2) and fuses the ends of the one or more fiber bundles together at the distal end (4).
  • Embodiment 6 Flexible waveguide (100) according to one or more of the preceding embodiments, wherein each of the first and second structural elements (10a, 10b) has a diameter of 100 nm to 50 urn.
  • Embodiment 7 Flexible waveguide (100) according to one or more of the preceding embodiments, wherein each of the one or more fiber bundles (1) has a diameter of 10 to 250 pm.
  • Embodiment 19 Flexible waveguide (100) according to one or more of embodiments 11 to 18, wherein the waveguide (100) has an optically active area of at least 75% over the cross section at the proximal distal ends of the waveguide.
  • Embodiment 20 Flexible waveguide (100) according to one or more of embodiments 11 to 19, wherein the waveguide (100) has an optically active area of at least 80% over the cross section at the proximal distal ends of the waveguide.
  • a preform of a fiber bundle was assembled to have a random distribution of 6,561 total first and second structural elements, arranged in a square cross section.
  • the first structural elements had a refractive index of 1 .6 and the second structural elements had a refractive index of 1 .5 such that the resulting waveguide transmitted image information along the transport direction according to the principle of transverse Anderson localization.
  • the preform was inserted in a first non-leachable tube, which acted as a cladding.
  • the outer diameter of the leachable tube was 35.56 mm and the inner diameter was 29.88 mm.
  • the resulting assembly was drawn down to produce a fiber bundle.
  • the diameter of the each of the first and second structural elements was 700 nm.
  • the diameter of the fiber bundle was 24 m.
  • a waveguide with dimensions 0.91 mm x 0.91 mm was assembled from the fiber bundle.
  • the waveguide was leached and the leachable claddings were dissolved to unbind the individual fiber bundles.
  • Each end of the waveguide was glued (or could instead be fused) while the fiber bundles were kept unbound along the length of the waveguide.
  • the waveguide had an optically active area of 80.4%, a bending radius of less than 20 mm, and a resolution of at least 128 Ip / mm in a negative USAF target.
  • Inventive Example 3 (flexible bundle using transverse Anderson localization): A preform of a fiber bundle was assembled to have a random distribution of 953 total first and second structural elements, arranged in a square cross section. The first structural elements had a refractive index of 1 .7 and the second structural elements had a refractive index of 1 .5 such that the resulting waveguide transmitted image information along the transport direction according to the principle of transverse Anderson localization.
  • the preform was inserted in a first non-leachable tube, which acted as a cladding.
  • the outer diameter of the leachable tube was 35.56 mm and the inner diameter was 29.88 mm.
  • the assembly was then inserted in a second leachable tube, which acted as an outer leachable cladding and a binding agent for the ends of the fiber bundle.
  • the resulting assembly was drawn down to produce a fiber bundle.
  • the diameter of the each of the first and second structural elements was 1 ,200 nm.
  • the diameter of the fiber bundle was 42 m.
  • a waveguide with dimensions 1.51 mm x 1 .51 mm was assembled from the fiber bundle.
  • the waveguide was leached and the leachable claddings were dissolved to unbind the individual fiber bundles.
  • Each end of the waveguide was glued (or could instead be fused) while the fiber bundles were kept unbound along the length of the waveguide.
  • the waveguide had an optically active area of 80.4%, a bending radius of less than 20 mm, and a resolution of at least 128 Ip / mm in a negative USAF target.
  • a preform of a fiber bundle was assembled to have a random distribution of 419,504 total first and second structural elements, arranged in a square cross section.
  • the first structural elements had a refractive index of 1 .7 and the second structural elements had a refractive index of 1 .5 such that the resulting waveguide transmitted image information along the transport direction according to the principle of transverse Anderson localization.
  • the resulting assembly was drawn down to produce a fiber bundle.
  • the diameter of each of the first and second structural elements was 2,500 nm.
  • the diameter of the fiber bundle was 1 .78 mm.
  • the fiber bundle was used to prepare a second assembly with a fiber bundle count of 81, arranged in a squared cross section.
  • the resulting assembly was drawn down to produce a waveguide with dimensions 5 mm x 5 mm.
  • the diameter of each of the first and second structural elements in the waveguide was 750 nm.
  • the waveguide had an optically active area of 100% and could not achieve any bending radius without breaking.
  • a preform of a fiber bundle having core fibers each surrounded by a cladding was assembled so that the total core-clad fiber count was 36, arranged in a square cross section.
  • the preform was drawn down to produce a fiber bundle.
  • the diameter of the core-clad fibers was 10 urn.
  • the diameter of the fiber bundle was 60 microns.
  • a waveguide with dimensions 5 mm x 5 mm was assembled from the fiber bundle.
  • the waveguide was leached and the leachable claddings were dissolved to unbind the individual fiber bundles.
  • Each end of the waveguide was glued while the fiber bundles were kept unbound along the length of the weveguide.
  • the waveguide had an optically active area of 80.4%, a bending radius of less than 20 mm, and a resolution of not greater than 50.8 Ip / mm in a negative USAF target.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • Optical Fibers, Optical Fiber Cores, And Optical Fiber Bundles (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne des guides d'ondes optiques flexibles pour transmettre des ondes électromagnétiques, en particulier pour transmettre des informations d'image, et des procédés de fabrication de guides d'ondes optiques flexibles.
PCT/EP2024/070502 2023-07-26 2024-07-19 Guides d'ondes optiques flexibles Pending WO2025021671A1 (fr)

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US63/515,590 2023-07-26

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