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OwnerLaura J. Ball, Bruno P. M. Baney +4inventors
InventorsLaura J. Ball, Bruno P. M. Baney, Dana C. Bookbinder, Keith L. House, Rostislav R. Khrapko, Susan L. Schiefelbein
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A method of forming an alkali metal oxide-doped optical fiber by diffusing an alkali metal into a surface of a glass article is disclosed. The silica glass article may be in the form of a tube or a rod, or a collection of tubes or rods. The silica glass article containing the alkali metal, and impurities that may have been unintentionally diffused into the glass article, is etched to a depth sufficient to remove the impurities. The silica glass article may be further processed to form a complete optical fiber preform. The preform, when drawn into an optical fiber, exhibits a low attenuation.
A method of forming an optical fiber precursor comprising:
An optical fiber wherein the core is comprised of SiO2 and an alkali metal oxide of the form X2O where X is selected from the group consisting of K, Na, Li, Cs and Rb and 0.035≦X2O≦6 mole percent and wherein said core is further comprised of less than about 100 ppm chlorine.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.