TANTALA DOPED OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE

摘要

The present invention is directed to low loss optical waveguides doped with tantala and methods of manufacturing such waveguides. SiO2 soot is doped with Ta2O5 to form a soot blank which is consolidated under conditions suitable to prevent the crystallization within the Ta2O5-SiO2 containing waveguides. The resulting rod is then either drawn into an optical fiber or overclad and subequently drawn into an optical fiber. High temperature consolidation in either a gaseous atmosphere or vacuum atmosphere is used to sinter and vitrify the soot blank prior to drawing to produce a low loss optical waveguide fiber.