CO2 Laser Applications in Optical Fiber Components Fabrication and Treatment: A Review

CO
₂
laser has been widely used in material processing, manufacturing, and medical and military applications since its invention in 1964. Typically for optical fiber components fabrication and treatment, CO
₂
laser has been reported intensively in stress and birefringence modification, long period grating fabrication, thermal regeneration, optical device fabrication, surface polishing, photosensitivity enhancement, and so on. The reason behind this is due to the advantages of high absorption, fast thermal response, low contamination, dynamic control, and focused heating area owned by the CO
₂
laser treatment technique. In this paper, a wide variety of CO
₂
laser applications in optical fiber components fabrication and treatment are reviewed in terms of procedure and principle. The advantages of using CO
₂
laser and the supremacy of the optical fiber components fabricated or treated by CO
₂
laser are discussed as well.