SOLAR RESISTANT OPTICAL FIBER AND METHOD

摘要

Solar resistant fused silica optical fiber (14) is made by heating the starter rod (10), drawing the fiber, and preferably immediately diffusing hydrogen by hydrogen absorption/diffusion chamber (16) into the fiber, then promptly covering the hydrogen diffused fiber with hermetic coating by hermetic coating reactor (20) to trap the hydrogen within the fiber. The presence of hydrogen in the fiber neutralizes UV radiation induced defects and because the hydrogen can only migrate through the fiber ends, the life of the solar resistant fiber for transmission wavelengths is increased by several years over conventional solar resistant fiber.