Thermal behaviors of stainless steel tube based GeO₂ ATR hollow fibers for transmitting CO₂ laser radiations

The stainless steel (SUS) capillary tube attenuated total reflective (ATR) GeO₂ hollow waveguide has advantages of low fabrication cost, strong mechanic strength and low transmission loss. It can find laser power delivery applications such as laser surgery, and material processing. However, the temperature rise of the operating waveguide may affect the laser delivery stability and the laser surgery safety. The thermal behaviors of the SUS ATR hollow fiber transmitting CO₂ laser were investigated theoretically and experimentally in this work. Both theoretic simulations and experimental results disclose the periodic oscillatory behavior of the fiber temperature. The influence of input laser power on fiber temperature has been quantitatively discussed. A maximum input laser power of 23 W is predicted for laser surgery in which case the fiber temperature had better be lower than 47 °C to avoid tissue scalds. An input laser power smaller than 137 W is suggested preventing the fiber from being overheated (150 °C).