Abstract

We have developed a rigid hollow fiber composed of a silver-clad stainless steel pipe. The inside wall of the pipe was polished to a mirror-smooth state, and after that a cyclic olefin polymer (COP) as a transparent dielectric material was coated on the inside of the silver layer. Transmission of CO2 laser light through the hollow fiber of 20-cm length with a 0.75-mm inside diameter was 95% under straight condition, and more than 75% under the condition of a 90 deg. bend with a 4-cm bending radius. This metallic hollow fiber is not very long or flexible, but it has great mechanical strength. For this reason, this sturdy metallic hollow fiber can be used for a laser probe mounted at the tip of a long optical transmission line.

© 2007 Chinese Optics Letters

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