Optical Fiber Materials

This chapter discusses the applications of optical fibers in light of the materials properties that make those applications possible. The application of optical fibers for the transmission of information is a well-developed technology and a large industry. The materials properties that must be considered for the evaluation of a potential material in this area include functional wavelength range, degree of transparency in that wavelength range, and dispersion. An optical fiber is a filament of a dielectric material that has Transparency to a portion of the optical spectrum and structure so that light is propagated through the fiber. The attenuation of an optical fiber arises from two categories of loss mechanisms: intrinsic and extrinsic. In the 1970s, there were two different approaches to the fabrication of optical fibers: chemical vapor deposition of synthetic high silica glass and the double-crucible method of forming multicomponent glass fibers. Two glass properties have dominated the search for better glass compositions: glass stability and infrared transmission.