Methods for detecting inhomogeneities, specifically, striae, infused silica glasses
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorsDavid R. Fladd, Stephen J. Rieks
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Abstract
A process for detecting inhomogeneities, specifically, striae in a sample of fused silica glass is provided which includes the steps of: preparing a digitized phase plot for the sample using an interferometer which produces a beam of light which passes through the sample; applying a high pass filter to the phase plot to remove the effects of the sample's bulk properties; applying a statistical filter to the high pass filtered data to remove outlying data points; and column averaging the statistically filtered data. If present, striae can be readily detected in the column averaged, statistically filtered data.
Claims17
A method for testing a transparent body for the presence of striae comprising the steps of:
- (a) preparing a digitized phase plot for the transparent body using an interferometer, wherein:
- (i) the interferometer produces a beam of light which passes through the transparent body;
- and
- (ii) the digitized phase plot comprises a set of first values at a set of first locations on the body;
- (b) applying a high pass filter to the set of first values, said high pass filter producing a set of second values at a set of second locations on the body;
- (c) applying a statistical filter to the set of second values to remove outlying values, said statistical filter producing a set of third values at a set of third locations on the body;
- (d) column averaging the set of third values to produce a set of fourth values at the set of second locations on the body;
- and
- (e) examining the set of fourth values at the set of second locations to detect striae within the transparent body.
A method for testing a transparent body for the presence of striae comprising the steps of:
- (a) preparing a digitized phase plot for the body using an interferometer which produces a beam of light which passes through the transparent body;
- (b) column averaging the digitized phase plot;
- and
- (e) examining the column averaged phase plot to detect striae within the transparent body.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.