Mid-infrared hollow core fiber drawn from a 3D printed chalcogenide glass preform

We report the fabrication of a microstructured optical fiber drawn from a soft glass 3D printed preform. For this proof of concept, a chalcogenide glass that is well known for its capability to be shaped at low temperature and its mid-infrared transmission was selected: Te20As30Se50. The obtained negative curvature hollow core fiber shows several transmission bands in the 2–12 µm range that are reproduced numerically using finite element-based simulations and coupled mode theory.