Chalcogenide optical fiber couplers for chemical sensing, telecommunications, and infrared lasers

Summary form only given. Fiber-optic couplers represent one of the fundamental building blocks for sophisticated optical-fiber devices, and though some investigations have been done with core-only chalcogenide fiber, no fused devices have been made for infrared (IR) operation beyond 1.55 /spl mu/m. The fusion technique has been employed in making fiber couplers from silica glass fibers for over two decades, but to our knowledge, no one has reported the use of this technique on chalcogenide fibers. The method for fusing chalcogenide fibers differs somewhat from that for silica fibers, largely because of the steeper viscosity profile of the chalcogenides.