Method for making optical fiber preforms by collapsing a hollow glass tube upon a glass rod

Abstract

In accordance with the invention, a plurality of elongated refractory bodies are laminated together by placing the bodies in close adjacency, exposing the adjacent bodies to a plasma torch heat source, and moving the bodies longitudinal past the torch at a nonzero average rate which includes a reciprocating (e.g., oscillatory) component to longitudinally spread the zone of heating. Where the bodies are a rod to be laminated within a hollow tube, it is advantageous to reduce the air pressure between the rod and tube, thereby eliminating potential contaminants and, at the same time, biasing the tube to collapse against the rod. This method is particularly useful in laminating overcladding tubes to core rods to form optical fiber preforms.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.