Optical fiber for resisting hydrogen-induced loss
AssigneeJDS Uniphase Corporation
InventorsYing Hua Zhang, Brian M. Laliberte, Alexander Yusim
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention provides an optical fiber composition which has a high resistance to aging upon exposure to hydrogen. The inventive optical fiber does not require further treatment steps, such as passivation or hermetic coating, to meet specifications for hydrogen aging. The inventive optical fiber has a core glass composition with a germania doping concentration from 0% to 4% in weight. Decreasing the dopant concentration of germanium increases the resistance of the fiber to hydrogen by reducing the number of germanium defect sites in the core of the fiber. The optical fiber composition is advantageous for rare earth-doped fibers which are particularly sensitive to hydrogen aging.
Claims19
An optical fiber comprising:
- a core region, said core region comprising silica as a major component and at least a first dopant, wherein said first dopant is germania (GeO2) in a quantity of substantially 4% or less in weight;
- and
- a cladding region surrounding said core region, said cladding region being composed of silica as a major component.
An optical fiber comprising:
- a core region, said core region comprising silica as a major component and at least a first dopant, wherein said first dopant is germania (GeO2) comprising a quantity of substantially 0% to 4% in weight;
- and
- a cladding region surrounding said core region, said cladding region being composed of silica as a major component, wherein the cladding region comprises at least a first dopant, and, wherein the first dopant of the cladding is one of fluorine and phosphorous.
An optical fiber for resisting a hydrogen-induced loss comprising:
- a silica glass cladding;
- and
- a glass core doped with at least a first dopant, said first dopant is germania having a dopant concentration in a quantity of substantially 4% or less in weight.
An optical fiber for resisting a hydrogen-induced loss comprising:
- a silica glass cladding;
- and
- a glass core doped with at least a first dopant, said first dopant is germania having a dopant concentration from approximately 0% to 4% in weight, wherein the silica glass cladding is a matched cladding further comprising fluorine and phosphorous as dopants.
An optical fiber for resisting a hydrogen-induced loss comprising:
- a) a core comprising:
- silica (SiO2),
- germania (GeO2) at a quantity of up to approximately 4% in weight, and
- alumina (Al2O3);
- and
- b) a matched cladding formed around the core comprising silica doped with fluorine (F) and phosphorous (P2O5).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.