Fibers for optics and structures

Hasan Yılmaz

MSN Graduate Program and UNAM

Optical fibers are versatile waveguides that have numerous application areas such as telecommunication, lasers, biomedical and infrared (IR) optics. Hollow-core optical fibers (HCFs) are microstructured fibers with a hollow-core surrounded by cladding elements that further diversify the applications of fibers in nonlinear optics, chemical sensing, plasma generation and many others. The recent simplified cladding structures of HCFs have demonstrated considerable improvement on the optical performances and have the capability of outperforming the solid-core fibers. The selection of fiber’s material plays a crucial role to guide the light in the IR region. Materials such as semiconductors (Si and Ge), chalcogenides, silica-based glasses and even polymers can be used for infrared light transmission by the virtue of the hollow-core and low material absorption. Furthermore, fibers are used as structural materials within composites by forming the filler part. The body of aircrafts, sports cars, yacht and the blades of wind turbines are made by fiber-based composites. The usage of fibers in flexible electronics is another important field that seeks for the electrical conductivity with light-weight approaches. In our laboratory, Contemporary Fibers Lab (CFL), we investigate several types of fibers for light guidance, composites and electrical conductivity.

In this talk, I will introduce the present research activities in our laboratory by briefly discussing selected present/future projects. The development of optical fibers including the modelling, fabrication and characterization by multiple materials will cover the first part of the talk. In the second part, I will focus on the work for improving the mechanical properties of structural fibers by the nanoparticles and flexible conductive fibers.

About Speaker

Dr. Mustafa Ordu is a principal investigator in UNAM-National Nanotechnology Research Center and Institute of Materials Science and Nanotechnology at Bilkent University. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University, Turkey and Tohoku University, Japan, respectively. He completed his Ph.D. studies at Boston University in 2018 on semiconductor-core optical fibers for infrared light guidance. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher on the topics of hollow-core optical fibers and laser micromachining of fibers at XLIM Research Institute, France before joining Bilkent University. His research interests focus on a variety optical fibers, particularly for applications in infrared optics. Also, he has several research projects on glass fibers as structural materials.

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