Microstructured optical fibers and methods
First Claim
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1. A microstructured optical fiber comprising:
- a core region having a first refractive index and a cladding region having a second refractive index which is lower than that of the core region such that the light which is to be transmitted through the fiber is retained generally within the core, wherein the cladding comprises at least one region in the cladding comprised of a plurality of non-periodically located closed voids, such that when viewed in cross section said voids are distributed across said cross section, greater than 95 percent of the voids having a maximum diameter of 1550 nm or less, said fiber exhibiting an attenuation at at least one wavelength between 600 and 1550 nm which is less than 500 dB/km, wherein cross sections of said fiber taken at different points along the length of the fiber will exhibit different randomly oriented void patterns and different randomly oriented void sizes.
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Abstract
Microstructured optical fiber and method of making. Glass soot is deposited and then consolidated under conditions which are effective to trap a portion of the consolidation gases in the glass to thereby produce a non-periodic array of voids which may then be used to form a void containing cladding region in an optical fiber. Preferred void producing consolidation gases include nitrogen, argon, CO2, oxygen, chlorine, CF4, CO, SO2 and mixtures thereof.
139 Citations
45 Claims
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1. A microstructured optical fiber comprising:
a core region having a first refractive index and a cladding region having a second refractive index which is lower than that of the core region such that the light which is to be transmitted through the fiber is retained generally within the core, wherein the cladding comprises at least one region in the cladding comprised of a plurality of non-periodically located closed voids, such that when viewed in cross section said voids are distributed across said cross section, greater than 95 percent of the voids having a maximum diameter of 1550 nm or less, said fiber exhibiting an attenuation at at least one wavelength between 600 and 1550 nm which is less than 500 dB/km, wherein cross sections of said fiber taken at different points along the length of the fiber will exhibit different randomly oriented void patterns and different randomly oriented void sizes. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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11. A microstructured optical fiber comprising:
a core region having a first refractive index and a cladding region having a second refractive index which is lower than that of the core region such that the light which is to be transmitted through the fiber is retained generally within the core region, wherein said cladding comprises a void containing region in the cladding which when viewed in cross section is comprised of a plurality of non-periodically located voids distributed within said cladding, wherein said fiber exhibits different cross-sectional patterns of said voids at different points along the length of the fiber, and wherein at least 95% of the voids in said void containing region have a maximum diameter of 1550 nm or less, wherein the fiber exhibits a total fiber void area percent which is greater than 0.01 percent. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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18. A microstructured optical fiber comprising:
a core region having a first refractive index and a cladding region having a second refractive index which is lower than that of the core region such that the light which is to be transmitted through the fiber is retained generally within the core region, wherein said cladding comprises a region in the cladding which surrounds the core region and when said fiber is viewed in cross-section said region is comprised of non-periodically distributed voids which do not extend the length of the fiber, said voids contain gas which was trapped during a fiber preform soot consolidation step used to manufacture said fiber, said voids having a mean diameter less than about 2000 nm and a standard deviation less than about 750 nm, wherein said void containing region is spaced apart from the core region of said fiber, and wherein said fiber exhibits a total fiber void area percent less than 5 percent. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A microstructured optical fiber which is multimoded at 1550 nm, said fiber comprising;
a core region having a first refractive index and a cladding region having a second refractive index which is lower than that of the core region such that the light which is to be transmitted through the fiber is retained generally within the core, wherein the cladding comprises at least one region in the cladding which is comprised of a plurality of non-periodically located voids, said fiber is multimoded at 1550 nm and exhibits an increase in attenuation at 1550 nm, when said fiber is wrapped once around a mandrel having a radius of 5 mm, which is less than 1 dB/turn, wherein different cross-sectiontaken along the length of the fiber exhibit different randomly oriented patterns of said voids. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 44)
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45. A microstructured optical fiber comprising:
a solid glass core region having a first refractive index and a cladding region having a second refractive index which is lower than that of the core region such that the light which is to be transmitted through the fiber is retained generally within the core, wherein the cladding comprises at least one region in the cladding comprised of a plurality of non-periodically located closed voids, said voids containing krypton gas therein.
Specification