Slow cooling of optical fibers having halogen doped cores
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorsSteven Bruce Dawes, Pushkar Tandon
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Abstract
A method of processing an optical fiber includes drawing the optical fiber from an optical fiber preform within a draw furnace, the optical fiber extending from the draw furnace along a process pathway, the optical fiber comprising at least one halogen-doped core; and drawing the optical fiber through at least one slow cooling device positioned downstream from the draw furnace at a draw speed. The at least one slow cooling device exposes the optical fiber to a slow cooling device process temperature greater than or equal to 800° C. and less than or equal to 1600° C. The draw speed is such that the optical fiber has a residence time of at least 0.1 s in the at least one slow cooling device. An optical fiber made by such a process is also disclosed.
Claims12
A method of processing an optical fiber comprising:
- drawing the optical fiber from an optical fiber preform within a draw furnace, wherein the optical fiber extends from the draw furnace along a process pathway, and wherein the optical fiber comprises at least one halogen-doped core comprising a halogen concentration greater than or equal to 0.5 wt %;
- and
- drawing the optical fiber through at least one slow cooling device positioned downstream from the draw furnace at a draw speed, wherein:
- the at least one slow cooling device exposes the optical fiber to a slow cooling device process temperature greater than or equal to 800° C. and less than or equal to 1600° C.,
- the draw speed is such that the optical fiber has a residence time of at least 0.1 s in the at least one slow cooling device, and
- the optical fiber is drawn through the at least one slow cooling device at least two times.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.