Hollow core fibre for the mid infrared

The project aims to develop an optical fibre that will work for guiding light in the infrared part of the spectrum, with the aim of transferring high power. We believe we can make a fibre that works better than other infrared fibres by incorporating current hollow fibre technology with other materials to realise a higher-level of functionality. This means that new fibre fabrication techniques will need to be developed to achieve this goal. The benefit to developing this technique is that it should be adaptable to a range of materials.

Having a fibre that guides high power in the infrared is that it brings all the benefits of optical fibres to infrared lasers, including those used in machining like CO and CO2 lasers.

The project will also provide photonics for some future systems as it will provide a solution to the company that is part funding the project. This means that we will need to work on issues with its application and how to integrate the fibre into an already existing set of systems, not just focus on the development of the technology.