Nanostructured Optical Fiber By The Sol-Gel Process In The Sio2-Zro2 System

A SiO2-ZrO2 nanostructured optical fiber developed using the chemical sol-gel method is fabricated and its waveguiding properties are studied. The refractive index difference between the core and the cladding is 0.021 for a (30%ZrO2-70%SiO2) molar core composition. Illumination of the fiber with a supercontinuum source (350-1750 nm) shows that the light is guided over this entire range. The measured attenuation losses are 0.7 dB/m at a 1064 nm wavelength and the calculated cutoff wavelength is 714 nm.