Optical fibers made from common materials

Date: August 13, 2012

1 Clemson researchers are taking common materials to uncommon places

by transforming easily obtainable and affordable materials into fiber. Their
findings are published in Nature Photonics.
2 "We have used a highly purified version of beach sand (silica) for fiber for
the last 40 years," said John Ballato, director of the Center for Optical
Materials Science and Engineering Technologies at Clemson University. "As
a matter of fact, the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for the
Clemson University
development of silica optical fibers. However, while silica has done
researchers say
remarkably well over time, it is now being pushed to its limits for faster and
sapphire is better for
cheaper data and new functionality."
fiber optics than silica
used now.Credit: John 3It has gotten to the point where there is so much light packed in fiber cable
Ballato, Clemson that the silica material essentially can't handle the intensity and has actually
University begun interacting and rebelling.
4 "At high power, the light causes the atoms of the material to vibrate more violently and those
vibrations convert some of the light energy into sound energy which restricts the ability of the fiber to
carry more power," said Ballato. "This, in turn, lessens the amount of light that can travel through the
fiber, which limits the amount of information that can be sent for telecommunications uses and power
for high-energy laser applications."
5 The demand for stronger and more durable fiber material is greater than ever and will only increase
with technological advancement. Clemson researchers are focusing on providing a material solution
for fiber optics, especially one that can be sold commercially. Their goal is to take a robust, affordable,
and easily accessible material that can take the brunt of greater intensity and convert that material into
a fiber.
6 Ballato and his team found that sapphire possesses extraordinary properties that make it
exceptionally valuable for high power lasers in which the light intensity interacts with sound waves in
the glass and leads to diminished power-handling capabilities.
7"Sapphire is new and different in this sense because we're able to use a low-cost and widely used
commodity as a fiber," said Ballato. "Sapphire is scalable, acceptable and is a material that people
don't think about when it comes to fiber optics. The problem is that sapphire's crystalline structure is
not amenable to making into optical fiber using commercially accepted methods."
8Ballato actually developed the sapphire fiber to withstand greater intensity and be more useful for
high-energy applications than typical commercial fibers.
9 "Ballato's recent results with sapphire fibers represent a paradigm-shifting development in the field
of fiber optics," said SiddarthRamachandran, associate professor in the electrical and computer
engineering at Boston University and an expert in the field. "Materials long considered to be used only
in the realm of free-space optics can now be exploited in fiber geometries, which enable long
interaction lengths and novel nonlinear optical effects."
10"This research is paving the way for everyday commodities to be imagined for technological uses
such as fiber optics," Ballato said. "We're performing additional studies with sapphire and other
materials that have similar effects for fiber."

Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by Clemson University. Note: Materials may
be edited for content and length.
Vocabulary

1 acceptable adecuado, apropiado

2 actually en realidad, realmente, verdaderamente , en efecto

3 affordable costeable, asequible

4 amenable sensible, dócil

5 as a matter of fact de hecho, en realidad

6 brunt choque, embate

7 capability capacidad, competencia

8 carry llevar, transportar, trasladar, conducir

9 commodity artículo, producto

10 convert convertir, transformar, adaptar

11 development desarrollo, producción, evolución, adelanto

12 enable habilitar, capacitar, permitir

13 free-space espacio libre

14 handle manipular, manejar, encarar

15 increase incrementar, aumentar

16 in turn después, posteriormente

17 lead conducir, inducir, guiar

18 lessen disminuir, reducir

19 material materia, substancia, cuerpo

20 pave pavimentar, afirmar

21 realm reino, terreno

22 rebel rebelarse, sublevarse

23 robust fuerte, robust, vigoroso

24 sand arena

25 scalable expansible

26 shifting cambio, desvío, variación

27 silica sílice, óxido de silicio

28 typical característico, típico

29 widely ampliamente, muy, mucho

30 withstand resistir, aguantar