Tri-layer ceramic optical fibers and method of making
AssigneeGovernment of the United States as Represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
InventorsHyunjun Kim, Randall Hay, Kent Averett, Cynthia Bowers, Benjamin Gray, Brian Sirn
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Abstract
A method of forming a crystalline core/crystalline clad (C4) optical fiber. The method comprises coextruding a cladding mixture of a plasticizer and a binder with a yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) core. The coextrusion dynamically clads a polycrystalline cladding onto the YAG core to yield a green C4 optical fiber. The C4 optical fiber is then densified, preferably in two steps sintering and hot isostatic pressing. The resulting optical C4 fiber has greater power capacity than a glass fiber labor host.
Claims20
An optical fiber comprising:
- a crystalline core;
- a ceramic cladding circumscribing the core;
- an insulative film intermediate and separating the core and cladding and substantially preventing the grain boundary of the core from growing onto the cladding during a cladding process.
An optical fiber comprising:
- a positively doped crystalline core;
- a ceramic cladding circumscribing the core;
- a film intermediate and separating the core and cladding and substantially preventing the grain boundary of the core from growing onto the cladding during a cladding process.
A method for making a tri-layer optical fiber comprising, in order, the steps of:
- sputter coating crystal particles onto a crystalline core to encase the crystalline core with an insulative film;
- coextruding the core and film with cladding material to form a tri-layer cladded fiber;
- and
- sintering the tri-layer cladded fiber to reduce porosity in the cladding.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.