Cyclic olefin polymer (COP) is newly used as the inner dielectric of infrared, hollow glass waveguides because of its low extinction coefficient in the mid-infrared region. A liquid-flow coating and dry-cure process are employed to form the COP layer on the inside of a silver-coated hollow glass tube. In the coating process, cyclohexane is chosen as the solvent of COP to form a smooth and uniform COP layer It is shown that COP-coated silver hollow glass waveguides show low loss properties for CO↓(2), CO, and Er:YAG laser light when the thickness of the COP layer is properly chosen. # 1998 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 140.3070, 160.5470, 230.7370.
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