Method of making fluorine doped optical preform and fiber and resultant articles
AssigneeCorning Glass Works
InventorGeorge E. Berkey
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This invention relates to a method forming fluorine-doped glass. A coating of glass particles is deposited on the surface of a cylindrical rod of high purity glass. The coated rod is inserted into a furnace which contains a cylindrical muffle formed of high silica content glass. A fluorine-containing atmosphere is flowed through the muffle and over the outer surface of the coating of glass particles and also flows inwardly through the interstices thereof. The temperature within the furnace is sufficiently high to cause fluorine to diffuse into the surfaces of the glass particles and to cause the particles to fuse and form a fluorine-containing dense glass coating on the surface of the rod.
Claims14
A method of forming a glass article at least a portion of which is doped with fluorine, comprising the steps of
- forming a glass preform at least a portion of which is porous and contains interstices,
- inserting said preform into a consolidation furnace having a muffle formed of a high silica content glass,
- flowing over the surface of said porous portion a gas comprising fluorine, a portion of said gas diffusing inwardly through the interstices of said preform, and
- heating said porous preform to a temperature within the consolidation temperature range for a time sufficient to cause said fluorine to diffuse into the surfaces of said interstices and to cause the porous portion of said preform to fuse and form a fluorine-doped dense glass.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.