Glass fibres from mechanically shaped preforms

Abstract

A novel method for the production of SiO2 fibres is presented, based on the MSP process (Mechanically Shaping of Preforms). This process allows the separation of powder production and preform shaping. High dispersive GeO2-doped and undoped silica powders with a pile-up density of about 20 g/l are employed to provide step-index profiles. The predensified powder is compressed to a porous preform (70 to 90 % porosity) which is dried and consolidated in a sintering furnace and then drawn to an optical fibre. The fibres exhibit lowest attenuation of 6 dB/km at present.