AN OPTICAL FIBER AND A METHOD FOR FABRICATING A LOW POLARIZATION-MODE DISPERSION AND LOW ATTENUATION OPTICAL FIBER

摘要

A method of fabricating an optical waveguide fiber that includes the steps o f providing a cylindrical glass optical fiber preform having a longitudinally extending centerline hole, and closing the hole under conditions suitable to result in uniform and symmetric hole closure. The method may include first plugging a first end and a second end of the centerline hole to prevent gas flow therethrough. The method preferably involves closing the centerline hol e of the preform by drawing the preform down into an optical waveguide fiber. An optical fiber produced by the method has a polarization mode dispersion (PMD ) of <0.2 ps km-2.