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Virginia Tech

Single Crystal Sapphire Photonic Crystal Fibers

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

A single crystal sapphire optical fiber has been developed with an optical cladding that is used to reduce the number of modes that propagate in the fiber. This fiber is the first single crystal sapphire photonic crystal fiber ever produced. Fabrication of the optical cladding reduces the number of modes in the fiber by lowering the effective refractive index around the core, which limits the amount of loss. Different fiber designs were analyzed using Comsol Multiphysics to find the modal volumes of each. The MIT Photonic Bands modeling program was used to see if the first photonic band gap fiber could be achieved theoretically. The fibers were qualified using far field pattern and photodetector measurements as well as gas sensing experiments. The fibers were then exposed to a harsh environment of 1000 °C with a coating of alumina to test the resistance to scattering of the fiber. The fibers were also examined using materials characterization equipment to see how the harsh environments impacted the optical and mechanical stability of the bundled fiber.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Ph. D.
Level thesis:degree_level
doctoral
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Materials Science and Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Materials Science and Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2012

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Pfeiffenberger, Neal Thomas
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Pickrell, Gary R.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Xu, Yong
  • Reynolds, William T. Jr.
  • Suchicital, Carlos T. A.

Subjects

dc:subject × 4

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright
Language dc:language.iso
en_US

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-08302012-164310
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/77179

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Pfeiffenberger, Neal Thomas. Single Crystal Sapphire Photonic Crystal Fibers. doctoral thesis, Virginia Tech, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/77179