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Possibility of Bending-Induced Fracture in Curved Double-Clad Fibers

Received: 12 June 2022     Accepted: 24 June 2022     Published: 29 June 2022
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Abstract

Rare-earth-doped optical fibers are one of the most promising solid-state lasers. In these fiber lasers, a cladding-pumping scheme using large-mode-area double-clad fibers (DCFs) is utilized to increase the overall conversion efficiency of pumping light and to overcome the restriction owing to the onset of stimulated Raman scattering. On the other hand, it is extremely challenging to increase the fiber core size while retaining the excellent beam quality because fibers with large core size allow propagation of several higher-order modes (HOMs), except for the fundamental mode (FM). In order to suppress HOMs, DCFs are bent with a relatively small bend radius. For the bent DCFs, the fracture behavior, including delayed fracture, was investigated on the basis of the fracture mechanics concept. When a bent DCF is subjected to a high applied stress, failure occurs by the extension of a crack from the surface of the inner cladding (silica glass) layer of the DCF. When DCFs with core diameters of 20 and 40 μm were curved to be stored in the apparatus to maintain large bending radii of > 245 and 275 mm, respectively, it was found that both instantaneous and delayed fracture of bent DCFs could not occur in either air or distilled water. When a DCF is homogeneously curved in air and in water, bending loss occurs in the core and the optical power lost in the core is emitted from the outer interface (or boundary) between the inner cladding (silica glass) and outer cladding (low-index polymer) layers. As the transmittance of the polymer is not 100%, the leaked light is absorbed and heat accumulates in the polymer. The heat generated in the polymer through the absorption of optical power is transferred to the neighboring cladding (silica glass) layer. When the temperature of the outer wall of the cladding layer is higher than that of the inner wall, tensile stress is generated on the inner wall and compressive stress is generated on the outer wall. The thermal stress generated on the inner wall was estimated. It was concluded that the instantaneous fracture of curved DCFs could not occur in air or in distilled water under high-power laser operation.

Published in Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (Volume 10, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.jeee.20221003.17
Page(s) 121-127
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Double-Clad Fiber, Bending, Fracture Strength, Time to Failure, Fracture Mechanics

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    Yoshito Shuto. (2022). Possibility of Bending-Induced Fracture in Curved Double-Clad Fibers. Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 10(3), 121-127. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jeee.20221003.17

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    ACS Style

    Yoshito Shuto. Possibility of Bending-Induced Fracture in Curved Double-Clad Fibers. J. Electr. Electron. Eng. 2022, 10(3), 121-127. doi: 10.11648/j.jeee.20221003.17

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    AMA Style

    Yoshito Shuto. Possibility of Bending-Induced Fracture in Curved Double-Clad Fibers. J Electr Electron Eng. 2022;10(3):121-127. doi: 10.11648/j.jeee.20221003.17

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jeee.20221003.17,
      author = {Yoshito Shuto},
      title = {Possibility of Bending-Induced Fracture in Curved Double-Clad Fibers},
      journal = {Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering},
      volume = {10},
      number = {3},
      pages = {121-127},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jeee.20221003.17},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jeee.20221003.17},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jeee.20221003.17},
      abstract = {Rare-earth-doped optical fibers are one of the most promising solid-state lasers. In these fiber lasers, a cladding-pumping scheme using large-mode-area double-clad fibers (DCFs) is utilized to increase the overall conversion efficiency of pumping light and to overcome the restriction owing to the onset of stimulated Raman scattering. On the other hand, it is extremely challenging to increase the fiber core size while retaining the excellent beam quality because fibers with large core size allow propagation of several higher-order modes (HOMs), except for the fundamental mode (FM). In order to suppress HOMs, DCFs are bent with a relatively small bend radius. For the bent DCFs, the fracture behavior, including delayed fracture, was investigated on the basis of the fracture mechanics concept. When a bent DCF is subjected to a high applied stress, failure occurs by the extension of a crack from the surface of the inner cladding (silica glass) layer of the DCF. When DCFs with core diameters of 20 and 40 μm were curved to be stored in the apparatus to maintain large bending radii of > 245 and 275 mm, respectively, it was found that both instantaneous and delayed fracture of bent DCFs could not occur in either air or distilled water. When a DCF is homogeneously curved in air and in water, bending loss occurs in the core and the optical power lost in the core is emitted from the outer interface (or boundary) between the inner cladding (silica glass) and outer cladding (low-index polymer) layers. As the transmittance of the polymer is not 100%, the leaked light is absorbed and heat accumulates in the polymer. The heat generated in the polymer through the absorption of optical power is transferred to the neighboring cladding (silica glass) layer. When the temperature of the outer wall of the cladding layer is higher than that of the inner wall, tensile stress is generated on the inner wall and compressive stress is generated on the outer wall. The thermal stress generated on the inner wall was estimated. It was concluded that the instantaneous fracture of curved DCFs could not occur in air or in distilled water under high-power laser operation.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Possibility of Bending-Induced Fracture in Curved Double-Clad Fibers
    AU  - Yoshito Shuto
    Y1  - 2022/06/29
    PY  - 2022
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jeee.20221003.17
    DO  - 10.11648/j.jeee.20221003.17
    T2  - Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
    JF  - Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
    JO  - Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
    SP  - 121
    EP  - 127
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2329-1605
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jeee.20221003.17
    AB  - Rare-earth-doped optical fibers are one of the most promising solid-state lasers. In these fiber lasers, a cladding-pumping scheme using large-mode-area double-clad fibers (DCFs) is utilized to increase the overall conversion efficiency of pumping light and to overcome the restriction owing to the onset of stimulated Raman scattering. On the other hand, it is extremely challenging to increase the fiber core size while retaining the excellent beam quality because fibers with large core size allow propagation of several higher-order modes (HOMs), except for the fundamental mode (FM). In order to suppress HOMs, DCFs are bent with a relatively small bend radius. For the bent DCFs, the fracture behavior, including delayed fracture, was investigated on the basis of the fracture mechanics concept. When a bent DCF is subjected to a high applied stress, failure occurs by the extension of a crack from the surface of the inner cladding (silica glass) layer of the DCF. When DCFs with core diameters of 20 and 40 μm were curved to be stored in the apparatus to maintain large bending radii of > 245 and 275 mm, respectively, it was found that both instantaneous and delayed fracture of bent DCFs could not occur in either air or distilled water. When a DCF is homogeneously curved in air and in water, bending loss occurs in the core and the optical power lost in the core is emitted from the outer interface (or boundary) between the inner cladding (silica glass) and outer cladding (low-index polymer) layers. As the transmittance of the polymer is not 100%, the leaked light is absorbed and heat accumulates in the polymer. The heat generated in the polymer through the absorption of optical power is transferred to the neighboring cladding (silica glass) layer. When the temperature of the outer wall of the cladding layer is higher than that of the inner wall, tensile stress is generated on the inner wall and compressive stress is generated on the outer wall. The thermal stress generated on the inner wall was estimated. It was concluded that the instantaneous fracture of curved DCFs could not occur in air or in distilled water under high-power laser operation.
    VL  - 10
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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