Frozen-In Viscoelasticity for Novel Beam Expanders and High-Power Connectors

Frozen-in viscoelasticity has a significant, yet previously overlooked, impact on the refractive index profile of optical fibers and can serve as the basis for novel fiber devices. Viscoelastic strains can be frozen into an optical fiber during draw, or by cooling down a drawn fiber from high temperature while under tension. The resulting refractive index perturbation can exceed 0.003, exhibits mi...