Optofluidics, Sensors and Actuators in Microstructured Optical Fibers

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Molten glass-infiltrated photonic crystal fibers

I. Konidakis     Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH), Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (IESL), Heraklion, Greece

Abstract

This chapter discusses the infiltration of photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) with molten glasses. The fabricated composite all-glass fibers exhibit characteristic photonic bandgap (PBG) transmission properties that can be exploited in many ways toward the design of novel in-fiber devices suitable for a wide variety of applications. The chapter opens with a brief introduction to glass science and glassy materials, followed by the reasons prompting the realization of all-glass infiltrated PCFs. It then reviews different types of recently developed glass-infiltrated ...