METHOD OF MAKING POLARIZATION RETAINING FIBER

摘要

Disclosed is a method of making a polarization retaining single-mode optical fiber. Longitudinal grooves are formed on opposite sides of a cylindrically-shaped core preform having a glass core surrounded by cladding glass. The core preform is inserted into a glass tube, the tube is shrunk onto the core preform, and the interface between the core preform and the tube is fused to form a solid preform having longitudinal apertures on opposite sides of the core. An etchant gas is flowed through the apertures to enlarge the apertures into holes having a substantially round cross-section. Inserted into each aperture is a stress rod formed of glass having a coefficient of expansion different from that of the cladding glass. The resultant draw blank is drawn to form a single-mode optical fiber having a core that is subjected to a stress-induced birefringence.