Flexible and robust low-loss selenium-based multimaterial infrared fibers towards CO2 laser ablation

Yuqi Zou; Chao Liu; Zhihe Ren; Yuqi Zhang; Zichang Liu; Yinsheng Xu; Chong Hou; Lvyun Yang; Sheng Liang; Guangming Tao

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.105167

Flexible and robust low-loss selenium-based multimaterial infrared fibers towards CO₂ laser ablation

iScience. 2022 Sep 19;25(10):105167. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105167. eCollection 2022 Oct 21.

Authors

Yuqi Zou¹, Chao Liu¹, Zhihe Ren¹, Yuqi Zhang¹, Zichang Liu¹, Yinsheng Xu², Chong Hou^{1

3}, Lvyun Yang¹, Sheng Liang⁴, Guangming Tao^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics and Sport and Health Initiative, Optical Valley Laboratory, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China.
³ School of Optical and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Education Ministry on Luminescence and Optical Information Technology, National Physical Experiment Teaching Demonstration Center, Department of Physics, School of Physical Science and Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Material Processing and Die & Mould Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China.

Abstract

A small-scale delivery medium for CO₂ laser energy with stable performance, flexibility, and high-strength is crucial in extreme laser processing environments, especially for minimally invasive surgery in high-humidity, twisty and narrow channels. Here, flexible and robust multimaterial infrared fibers made of selenium-based chalcogenide glasses and thermoplastic polymer were developed with a low loss of 7.18 dB/m at 10.6 μm. The resulting fibers were capable of stably delivering single-mode CO₂ laser with 0.42 W average power. Moreover, to achieve precise control over the fibers in the practical clinical environment, customized co-polymers of polyphenylene sulfone resin and polyvinylidene fluoride were used as the fiber built-in jackets. Consequently, the fibers exhibited hydrophobicity, thermostability, high tensile strength, and low bending stiffness. The results demonstrated that the fibers can be used to deliver CO₂ laser energy for fabric cutting and bio-tissues ablation, making them attractive for CO₂ laser material processing and minimally invasive laser surgery.

Keywords: Laser; fiber optics; infrared optics.