Photorefractive optical fiber
AssigneeAT&T Bell Laboratories
InventorsRobert M. Aktins, Katherine T. Nelson, Kenneth L. Walker
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Abstract
Germanosilicate optical fiber having substantially higher GeO/GeO.sub.2 ratio than conventional comparison-fiber is disclosed. The fiber has a loss at wavelength of 330 nm of at least 30 db/m.mole % GeO.sub.2. Such fiber can be advantageously used for making in line photorefractive Bragg gratings and other photorefractive fiber components. Fiber according to the invention can be produced by an inside deposition process (e.g., MCVD, PCVD), by an outside deposition process (e.g., VAD, OVD), or even a sol/gel process, and embodiments of the general method of making fiber according to the invention are disclosed.
Claims4
Apparatus comprising a silica-based optical fiber comprising a core and a cladding region surrounding the core, the core comprising silica and germanium oxide, associated with the fiber is a loss above background for conducted actinic radiation of wavelength 330 nm and an effective core refractive index, the apparatus being adapted for operation at an operating wavelength .lambda..sub.op ;
- CHARACTERIZED IN THAT
- at least a portion of the fiber has a loss above background for conducted actinic radiation of wavelength 330 nm that is at least 30 db/m.mole % GeO.sub.2, where mole % GeO.sub.2 refers to the concentration of GeO.sub.2 in the core that is associated with the effective core refractive index at .lambda..sub.op and said loss above background is a function of a substantial Ge.sup.+2 concentration per unit concentration of germanium in the core of the fiber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.