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US 2014/0270667 A1Published application
Glass Buffers
AssigneeOFS Fitel, LLC
InventorsWilliam R Holland, Sean Sullivan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure is directed to optical fibers having glass buffers. As such, some embodiments comprise an optical fiber having a core, a cladding, and a glass buffer. For some embodiments, the glass buffer has an index of refraction that is greater than the index of refraction of the cladding.
Claims19
A process, comprising:
- inserting an optical fiber into a glass tube, the optical fiber comprising a silica core, the optical fiber further comprising a cladding, the cladding having a first index of refraction, the cladding having a first melting point, the glass tube having a second melting point, the second melting point being lower than the first melting point, the glass tube having a second index of refraction, the second index of refraction being higher than the first index of refraction;
- heating the glass tube to a temperature, the temperature being between the second melting point and the first melting point;
- and
- collapsing the glass tube to form a glass buffer, the glass buffer having a thickness equal to or greater than the thickness of the cladding.
1 more element
An apparatus, comprising:
- an optical fiber comprising:
- a silica core;
- and
- a cladding located radially exterior to the silica core, the cladding having a first index of refraction, the cladding further having a first melting point;
- and
- a glass buffer located radially exterior to the cladding, the glass buffer being in contact with the cladding, the glass buffer having a second melting point, the second melting point being lower than the first melting point, the glass buffer having a second index of refraction, the second index of refraction being higher than the first index of refraction.
3 more elements
An apparatus, comprising:
- an optical fiber comprising a core and a cladding, the cladding having a first index of refraction;
- and
- a glass buffer located radially exterior to the cladding, the glass buffer having a second index of refraction, the second index of refraction being higher than the first index of refraction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.