Method of coating a UV-fiber with blocking layers and charging the fiber with hydrogen or deuterium

Abstract

A method of producing an optical component for the transmission of UV light is provided. An optical fiber is prepared from synthetic quartz glass or from doped synthetic quartz glass with a transmission region for the transmission of UV light, and the transmission region is charged with hydrogen and/or with deuterium. The charging includes coating the fiber with a blocking layer inhibiting hydrogen diffusion, and charging the fiber in an atmosphere containing hydrogen and/or deuterium. This atmosphere is under a pressure in the range from 0.1 MPa to 200 MPa and at a temperature between 100° C. and 800° C. so as to produce a concentration of said hydrogen and/or deuterium of at least 5×1019 molecules/cm3 in the transmission region. The coating and charging steps may be performed repeatedly, and the blocking layer is built up to comprise a plurality of thinner layers including a top layer, after application of which charging is discontinued.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.