Mid-infrared interferometry with non-adiabatic tapered ZBLAN optical fiber.

This work illustrates, to the best of our knowledge, the first non-adiabatic tapered single-mode zirconium fluoride optical fiber sensor in the mid-infrared spectral range. It is designed and fabricated via pulling and heating technique. A waist diameter d = 25 µm with no visible crystallization is achieved, overcoming the typical fluoride glass challenges associated with crystallization, narrow temperature fabrication window, and low glass transition temperature.

Fused optical fiber combiner based on indium fluoride glass: perspectives for mid-IR applications.

For the first time, to the best of our knowledge, the design and characterization of a 3 × 1 fused fiber combiner based on multimode step-index fluoroindate optical fibers (InF) has been performed. Several efforts to develop a well-consolidated normalization procedure and a fabrication protocol have been required due to the low melting temperature and the mechanical properties of fluoroindates. Fabrication results demonstrate repeatability and absence of crystallization.