High-resolution chalcogenide fiber bundles for longwave infrared imaging.

A flexible chalcogenide fiber bundle (FB) with a resolution as high as ~31 lp/mm has been fabricated for delivering thermal images of objects at room temperature. The FB is composed of ~200,000 single fibers with a Ge-As-Te-Se glass core 15 μm in diameter and a polyetherimide (PEI) cladding 16.8 μm in diameter. These Ge-As-Te-Se/PEI fibers show good transparency in the 3-12 μm spectral region. The fabricated FB presents a filling factor of ~72% and a crosstalk of ~1%. High-quality thermal images of a human hand were obtained through the FB, demonstrating good potential of the FB for longwave infrared imaging in the areas such as medicine, industry and defense.