Glass etching is an essential process to manufacture optical fiber components for diverse applications such as telecommunication, sensing and high power. A novel glass etching approach based on molten salts has been investigated. This process is explored to etch glass surfaces with high precision and good homogeneity, being an alternative method to hydrofluoric acid-based etching processes. Initial plant development and industrial manufacturing capabilities are demonstrated on a modular etching system through a research collaboration. First results of etched glasses and especially, biconical fiber tapers show extremely smooth surfaces, high reproducibility and potential scalability for further processing of fiber couplers.

You can find the article here: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2610746.