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AssigneeFurukawa Electric Co., Ltd.
InventorsAkira Oyobe, Kazunori Nakamura, Nobuyuki Kagi, Yasumasa Sasaki
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Rare earth element doped silica glass according to the invention is prepared by doping silica-based glass co-doped with a rare earth element and aluminum additionally with fluorine and has excellent physical properties including remarkable light emission characteristics and an excellent capability of being fused with other silica-based glass. Such doped silica glass provides high amplification gains and a wide wavelength bandwidth and therefore can be used as a material for manufacturing miniaturized optical devices. Particularly, since the manufacturing process adapted to produce rare earth element doped silica glass according to the invention does not involve crystallization that normally characterizes the type of doped silica glass under consideration, the obtained doped silica glass is transparent and totally free from air bubbles. As a method for manufacturing rare earth doped silica glass according to the invention combines means for producing articles made of porous glass and a solution impregnation method, it provides easy and effective means for manufacturing rare earth doped silica glass which is co-doped with both a rare earth element and aluminum and highly transparent and therefore can be used as a suitable material for active optical devices.
Rare earth element doped silica glass characterized in that said glass is prepared by doping SiO.sub.2 glass which is co-doped with both aluminum and fluorine additionally with a rare earth element.
Rare earth element doped silica glass characterized in that it is prepared by doping GeO.sub.2 --SiO.sub.2 glass which is co-doped with both aluminum and fluorine additionally with a rare earth element.
A method for manufacturing rare earth element doped silica glass comprising the steps of impregnating a porous glass preform with a rare earth element and aluminum by immersing the preform in a solution containing ions of a rare earth element and aluminum, drying said preform while causing the salts of the rare earth element and aluminum to deposit on the pores of the preform and sintering the porous glass preform after the drying step to remove the pores from the preform, characterized in that said method further comprises a fluorine doping step after said drying step and before completion of consolidation of the preform in the sintering step where the porous glass preform is heated and doped with fluorine in a fluorine containing atmosphere.
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