Manufacturing method of optical fiber preform, and optical fiber preform

A method for manufacturing an optical fiber preform, the method comprising:

• producing a glass fine particle deposit including a glass rod having a glass body extending in a first direction and a dummy rod connected to an end of the glass body, and a deposition portion in which glass fine particles are deposited on an outer peripheral surface of the glass rod;
• and
• sintering the glass fine particle deposit by heating the glass fine particle deposit with at least one heater,
• wherein, in the producing, the glass fine particle deposit is produced such that the deposition portion includes a first deposition part on an outer peripheral surface of the glass body and a second deposition part on an outer peripheral surface of a portion of the dummy rod close to the glass body, and a thickness of the second deposition part along a second direction intersecting the first direction decreases as a distance from the first deposition part increases, and
• wherein, in the sintering, a heat shielding jig is disposed near a boundary between an exposed portion of the dummy rod and the second deposition part, the exposed portion being exposed to outside of the glass fine particle deposit, and heating with the heater is performed using the heat shielding jig so that the first deposition part is sintered to form transparent glass and the second deposition part remains unsintered to form opaque glass.