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Surface Analysis and Treatment of Extruded Fluoride Phosphate Glass Preforms for Optical Fiber Fabrication
Author(s) -
Kalnins Christopher A. G.,
Spooner Nigel A.,
Monro Tanya M.,
EbendorffHeidepriem Heike
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/jace.14269
Subject(s) - fabrication , materials science , phosphate glass , optical fiber , extrusion , composite material , layer (electronics) , fluoride , fiber , glass fiber , all silica fiber , surface layer , optics , plastic optical fiber , optoelectronics , fiber optic sensor , chemistry , inorganic chemistry , alternative medicine , physics , medicine , doping , pathology
Fabrication of fluoride phosphate glass optical fibers using the extrusion method for preform fabrication has been studied using the commercial Schott N‐FK51A glass. The extrusion step was found to create a surface layer of differing composition from the bulk glass material, leading to defects drawn down onto the optical fiber surface during fiber fabrication, resulting in high loss and fragile fibers. Similar phenomena have also been observed in other fluoride‐based glasses. Removal of this surface layer from preforms prior to fiber drawing was shown to improve optical fiber loss from >5 dB/m to 0.5–1.0 dB/m. The removal of this surface layer is therefore necessary to produce low‐loss fluoride phosphate optical fibers.