USRE44288EExpiredUtilityPatentIndex 42

Optical fiber and method for making such fiber

Assignee: KIMBALL RONALD LPriority: Feb 20, 2004Filed: Jul 29, 2009Granted: Jun 11, 2013

Est. expiryFeb 20, 2024(expired)· nominal 20-yr term from priority

Inventors:KIMBALL RONALD L KNOWLTON ROBERT A MCCARTHY JOSEPH E WANG JI WALTON DONNELL T ZENTENO LUIS A

C03B 2203/10C03B 2203/30G02B 6/024C03B 2207/85C03B 2201/12C03B 2201/28C03B 2201/32G02B 6/0365C03B 2201/36C03C 13/046H01S 3/1618C03B 2203/23H01S 3/06716C03B 2201/10C03B 2203/04C03B 2207/90C03B 2201/14G02B 6/03694C03B 2201/34G02B 6/03611C03B 2201/31C03B 37/01413

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Claims

Abstract

According to one example of the invention an optical fiber comprises: (i) silica based, rare earth doped core having a first index of refraction n 1 ; (ii) at least one silica based cladding surrounding the core and having a second index of refraction n 2 , such that n 1 >n 2 ; wherein at least one of the core or cladding is doped with Al 2 O 3 , such that the ratio of max wt % to min wt % of Al 2 O 3 concentration is less than 2:1.

Claims

exact text as granted — not AI-modified

What is claimed is:

1. An optical fiber comprising:
(i) a silica based, rare earth doped core having a first index of refraction n 1 ;
(ii) at least one silica based cladding surrounding the core and having a second index of refraction n 2 , such that n 1 &gt;n 2 ; wherein at least one of the core or cladding is doped with Al 2 O 3 , such that the ratio of max wt % to min wt % of Al 2 O 3 concentration in said core or cladding is less than 1.5:1 and the fiber exhibits less than 8 dB/km core background loss at a wavelength of 1280 nm.

2. The optical fiber according to claim 1 wherein Al 2 O 3 dopant is the core.

3. The optical fiber according to claim 2 wherein said ratio is less than 1.2:1.

4. The optical fiber according to claim 2 wherein said ratio less than 1.1:1.

5. The optical fiber according to claim 2 wherein said fiber core includes rare earth dopant(s).

6. The optical fiber as in any one of claims 1 - 5 wherein maximum Al 2 O 3 concentration is over 3 wt %.

7. The optical fiber of claim 6 wherein said optical fiber includes an inner cladding and an outer cladding surrounding the inner cladding.

8. The optical fiber according to claims claim 1 wherein said fiber is manufactured by the outside vapor deposition process.

9. The optical fiber according to claims claim 8 wherein AlCl 3 is delivered to a burner with heated Helium gas.

10. An optical fiber comprising:
(i) a silica based, rare earth doped core having a first index of refraction n 1 ;
(ii) at least one silica based layer surrounding the core and having a second index of refraction n 2 , such that n 1 &gt;n 2 ; wherein said layer includes in weight percent:

F
0.5 to 5
wt %; and

B
0.5 to 20
wt %.

11. The optical fiber according to claim 10 , wherein the amount of Boron and Fluorine is as follows:

F
1 to 5
wt %; and

B
3 to 20
wt %.

12. The optical fiber according to claim 10 , wherein the amount of Boron and Fluorine is as follows:

F
1 to 4
wt %; and

B
5 to 15
wt %.

13. The optical fiber according to claim 10 , wherein the amount of Boron is at least 8 wt % and the amount of Fluorine is at least 2 wt %.

14. The optical fiber as in any one of claims 10 - 12 , wherein said layer is a cladding layer.

15. The optical fiber according to claim 14 , wherein said optical fiber has an inner cladding layer and an outer cladding layer, and said cladding layer doped with Boron and Fluorine is the outer cladding layer.

16. An optical fiber comprising:
silica based, rare earth doped core having a first index of refraction n 1 ;
at least one silica based layer surrounding the core and having a second index of refraction n 2 , such that n 1 &gt;n 2 ; wherein said layer includes in weight percent: Boron—at least 8 wt %, and Fluorine—at least 2 wt %.

17. The optical fiber according to claim 1 , wherein the core background loss of said fiber is less than 5 dB/km at a wavelength of 1280 nm.

18. The optical fiber according to claim 17 wherein the core background loss of said fiber is less than 3 dB/km at a wavelength of 1280 nm.

19. The optical fiber according to claim 1 wherein said fiber includes an inner cladding surrounding said core, an outer cladding layer surrounding said inner cladding layer.

20. The optical fiber according to claim 19 wherein said dopant is Yb or Er.

21. An optical fiber comprising:
(i) a silica based core having a first index of refraction n 1 ; (ii) at least one silica based cladding surrounding the core and having a second index of refraction n 2 , such that n 1 &gt;n 2 ; wherein at least one of the core or cladding is doped with Al 2 O 3 , such that the ratio of maximum weight percent to minimum weight percent of Al 2 O 3 concentration in said core or cladding is less than 1.5:1, and wherein the at least one silica based cladding surrounding the core includes: fluorine in an amount of 0.5 to 5 weight percent; and boron in an amount of 0.5 to 20 weight percent.

22. The optical fiber according to claim 21, wherein the amount of boron and fluorine is as follows:
fluorine 1 to 5 wt % and boron 3 to 20 wt %.

23. The optical fiber according to claim 21, wherein the amount of boron and fluorine is as follows:
fluorine 1 to 4 wt % and boron 5 to 15 wt %.

24. The optical fiber according to claim 21, wherein the amount of boron is at least 8 wt % and the amount of fluorine is at least 2 wt %.

25. The optical fiber according to claim 21, wherein said layer is a cladding layer.

26. An optical fiber comprising:
a silica based core having a first index of refraction n 1 ; at least one silica based layer surrounding the core and having a second index of refraction n2, such that n 1 is greater than n 2 ; wherein at least one of the core or cladding is doped with Al 2 O 3 , such that the ratio of maximum weight percent to minimum weight percent of Al 2 O 3 concentration in said core or cladding is less than 1.5:1, and wherein said layer includes at least 8 weight percent boron and at least 2 weight percent fluorine.

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