Fabrication of tilted fibre gratings for medical applications

Fibre gratings are used in a multitude of telecommunication systems but their application to other fields has been somewhat overlooked. In recent years, the application of fibre gratings to other fields such as sensor systems has been growing. Optical fibre devices are also increasingly being used in medicine for endoscopes and keyhole surgery. In these cases optical fibres are employed in an end-firing configuration. However, for surgical applications such as those used in the treatment of atrial fibrillation, a side-firing system is desired. At Macquarie University, tilted fibre gratings have been fabricated for such an application. The characteristics of tilted fibre gratings fabricated using a frequency doubled copper vapour laser will be presented.