Nature specials: <The Future of the PhD>
http://www.nature.com/news/specials/phdfuture/index.html
Doea this mean too many PhD now?
As38Se62 glass was used for fabricating Microstructured optical fibres (MOFs) by French group (J. Troles).
MOF was fabricated using a casted preform, and the optical loss was demonstrated as low as 0.4 dB/m at 1.55 μm and less than 0.05 dB/m in the mid IR. The MOF cross-section and the coresponding mode profiles are shown in picture.
[6 December 2010 / Vol. 18, No. 25 / OPTICS EXPRESS 26651]
Chalcogenide glass, tellurite glass, bismuth glass, lead-silicate glass (schott), ZBLAN, silica, anything else?
well, quite a long name. the title lists the recent popular glasses that used in fibre optics application.
Light reflection and transmission in glass
When the light meet the glass surface, some of the light is reflected. The fraction of the reflected and transmitted light is determined using Fresnel equation. The easiest format of the equation is when light perpendicular to the surface of the glass.
R=((n1-n2)/(n1+n2))^2
where R is the reflection, n1 is refractive index of the medium where the light come from; n2 is the refractive index of the glass. This case is only light reflected from the front surface of the glass. Light actually will reflect on the back (assuming the glass sample has flat and parallel surfaces). Thus, total reflection:
2R/(1+R)
Optics 