Print‐and‐draw: microstructured optical fibers from 3D‐printed fused silica preforms

Print‐and‐draw: microstructured optical fibers from 3D‐printed fused silica preforms | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Print‐and‐draw: microstructured optical fibers from 3D‐printed fused silica preforms Azim-Onur Yazici, Michael Frosz, Thomas Stelzer, Linda Uta, Sabahat Shaheen, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6162812/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Microstructured optical fibers can guide light using carefully arranged air holes along their length. These fibers have a wide range of important technological and scientific applications across many disciplines - for example, by allowing light to be guided with ultralow loss within a hollow core. However, preforms for microstructured fibers are currently made almost exclusively using the stack-and-draw method. This method severely limits the complexity of achievable fiber structures. For example, it is highly difficult to make non-circular structures, thereby hindering the realization of novel advanced structures. We demonstrate that additive manufacturing of preforms using photocurable silica nanocomposites can be used to produce complex structures, including cladding elements with stadium shapes, which were previously considered only theoretically possible. Preforms containing anti-resonant hollow-core structures with record long length and high resolution were 3D-printed with wall thicknesses of less than 1 mm over a total length of more than 300 mm. After being converted into pure silica glass, the preforms were processed into optical fibers. We demonstrate for the first time that fiber features down to 500 nm thickness can be realized from 3D-printed preforms. We further demonstrate a double-nested anti-resonant hollow-core fiber with more truncated cladding elements than previously made by stacking of laser-cut capillaries. Contrary to previous fibers with only circular cladding elements, the surface tension-driven contraction of the now possible non-circular cladding elements cannot be counter-balanced with air-pressure. We therefore examined the impact of cladding element curvature and wall thickness on the contraction, which will help guide future novel preform designs. This work paves the way for 3D-printing to start the next revolution in microstructured fibers, by enabling designs that were previously impossible to make. Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Applied optics/Fibre optics and optical communications Physical sciences/Materials science/Materials for optics Full Text Additional Declarations Yes there is potential Competing Interest. Glassomer GmbH commercialized the silica nanocomposite material used for the 3D-printing. The authors declare no other competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6162812","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":426315145,"identity":"f6ee8018-1d6a-4dd5-a8f8-5947c3dab42b","order_by":0,"name":"Azim-Onur Yazici","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0004-8432-8368","institution":"Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Azim-Onur","middleName":"","lastName":"Yazici","suffix":""},{"id":426315144,"identity":"b36f208d-6d58-489f-b599-376718bd73ab","order_by":1,"name":"Michael Frosz","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABBUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACZgY2IGnBwN4A4lUwMPDBxAlokWDgOQDinWEAc/FrYUDWwthGhBbdduZnD35UALVIHz788ee8bXlsDNxpD78wWMvh0mJ2mM3csOcMUAtfWpqE5LbbxWwMvNuNZRjSjXFr4WGT4G2TYLDn4TFjMNx2O7GNgXebtATD4cQGPFok//4D2sLDY/whcQ5CSz0+LdK8DWAtBhIHGyBaJD8wHE7A4xczaZljEkAdbGmSDceAfmEG+oXBIN0Qpy3nDz+TfFNjI8fDw3z444+a23n87L3bHv6osJbHZQsM8MAYCaDIZeYxIKQBCYC8wMb4gwQdo2AUjIJRMOwBAMbfSO2xtekNAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8857-0029","institution":"Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Michael","middleName":"","lastName":"Frosz","suffix":""},{"id":426315146,"identity":"72af215c-499e-4810-992d-869024c7ec12","order_by":2,"name":"Thomas Stelzer","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Thomas","middleName":"","lastName":"Stelzer","suffix":""},{"id":426315147,"identity":"610c6658-1a44-4042-b205-91244a619dc5","order_by":3,"name":"Linda Uta","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Linda","middleName":"","lastName":"Uta","suffix":""},{"id":426315148,"identity":"8f9e7860-3747-490c-9fb7-73ab25121961","order_by":4,"name":"Sabahat Shaheen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sabahat","middleName":"","lastName":"Shaheen","suffix":""},{"id":426315149,"identity":"070c2bc9-00ad-412c-aefd-d306d8c03f57","order_by":5,"name":"Michael Bergler","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Michael","middleName":"","lastName":"Bergler","suffix":""},{"id":426315150,"identity":"4b88f8da-e0f1-45e9-a88e-16b707619efb","order_by":6,"name":"Patrick Risch","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Freiburg/IMTEK","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Patrick","middleName":"","lastName":"Risch","suffix":""},{"id":426315151,"identity":"b586c2a1-0be2-4d47-a90d-0c7f2d87cd40","order_by":7,"name":"Frederik Kotz-Helmer","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Glassomer GmbH","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Frederik","middleName":"","lastName":"Kotz-Helmer","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-03-05 13:05:06","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6162812/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6162812/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":79283793,"identity":"355ae1d1-7e65-43d2-aab2-036b674729c4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-03-26 13:57:21","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1873650,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"Yazici20250304Printanddraw.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6162812/v1_covered_2d556cc2-d634-424f-bcac-7aac7e611264.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cb\u003eYes\u003c/b\u003e there is potential Competing Interest.\nGlassomer GmbH commercialized the silica nanocomposite material used for the 3D-printing. 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These fibers have a wide range of important technological and scientific applications across many disciplines - for example, by allowing light to be guided with ultralow loss within a hollow core. However, preforms for microstructured fibers are currently made almost exclusively using the stack-and-draw method. This method severely limits the complexity of achievable fiber structures. For example, it is highly difficult to make non-circular structures, thereby hindering the realization of novel advanced structures. We demonstrate that additive manufacturing of preforms using photocurable silica nanocomposites can be used to produce complex structures, including cladding elements with stadium shapes, which were previously considered only theoretically possible. Preforms containing anti-resonant hollow-core structures with record long length and high resolution were 3D-printed with wall thicknesses of less than 1 mm over a total length of more than 300 mm. After being converted into pure silica glass, the preforms were processed into optical fibers. We demonstrate for the first time that fiber features down to 500 nm thickness can be realized from 3D-printed preforms. We further demonstrate a double-nested anti-resonant hollow-core fiber with more truncated cladding elements than previously made by stacking of laser-cut capillaries. Contrary to previous fibers with only circular cladding elements, the surface tension-driven contraction of the now possible non-circular cladding elements cannot be counter-balanced with air-pressure. We therefore examined the impact of cladding element curvature and wall thickness on the contraction, which will help guide future novel preform designs. 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