Apparatus for drawing an optical waveguide

摘要

In the production of an optical waveguide (2) from a preform (3) in a drawing furnace (1), the optical waveguide must be cooled so that it can be further processed, for example coated. It is known to cool the optical waveguide (2) by a gas. The gas surrounding the optical waveguide (2) forms a boundary layer thereon which prevents its cooling and can be stripped off by at least one gas flowing in at an angle. n gas inlets (6, 7, 8, ...) are therefore installed along and around the optical waveguide (2) between the drawing furnace (1) and the cooling device (4), from which a plurality, at most n, gases flow out. The gas flowing out of the nth gas inlet (6, 7, 8, ...) strips off the boundary layer formed by the gas coming from the (n-1)th gas inlet. <IMAGE>