Patent Application
20240327271
The present disclosure relates to an optical fiber and an optical fiber preform. The present application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-117840 filed on Jul. 16, 2021, and the entire contents of the Japanese patent application are incorporated herein by reference.
In general, when an optical fiber is manufactured by drawing an optical fiber preform in which a core formed of silica-based glass includes an alkali metal element or an alkaline earth metal element, viscosity of the core may be reduced and rearrangement of the glass may be promoted, so that transmission loss caused by Rayleigh scattering of the optical fiber is reduced. Hereinafter, both the alkali metal element and the alkaline earth metal element are referred to as an “alkali metal element group”.
When chlorine is not included in a core including an alkali metal element group or when the content of chlorine is small, the alkali metal element group added to the central portion of the core in the state of an optical fiber preform is diffused during drawing, and at that time, the bond of the glass molecular structure is cut to generate glass defects. This causes an increase in transmission loss derived from glass defects. When the core includes a sufficient amount of chlorine, the alkali metal element group is bonded to glass defects by chlorine. As a result, the occurrence of glass defects is suppressed, and an increase in transmission loss derived from glass defects is reduced.
In order to reduce such an increase in transmission loss due to glass defects, the core of the optical fiber of the inventions disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 and 2 includes chlorine in addition to the alkali metal element group. In the optical fiber disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 and 2, when the core is divided into an inner core and an outer core, the chlorine concentration in the inner core is lower than the chlorine concentration in the outer core. By reducing the chlorine concentration in the inner core to which the alkali metal element group is to be added in this way, defects such as crystallization occurring at the time of preforming are reduced. It is considered that by increasing the chlorine concentration in the outer core, glass defects caused by diffusion of the alkali metal element group during drawing can be repaired, and an increase in transmission loss derived from glass defects can be suppressed.
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-541796
Patent Literature 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2017-76053
Patent Literature 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2019-191297
An optical fiber according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is an optical fiber made of silica-based glass, including: a core; and a cladding circumscribing the core, in which a refractive index of the core is larger than a refractive index of the cladding, the core includes a first core having a central axis and a second core circumscribing the first core, a mean value of a mass fraction of chlorine in the first core is lower than a mean value of a mass fraction of chlorine in the second core, a mean value of a mass fraction of fluorine in the first core is higher than a mean value of a mass fraction of fluorine in the second core, a total value of the mean value of the mass fraction of chlorine and the mean value of the mass fraction of fluorine in the second core is 5000 ppm or less, and the core includes either or both of an alkali metal element and an alkaline earth metal element.
An optical fiber preform according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a core portion; and a cladding portion circumscribing the core portion, in which a refractive index of the core portion is larger than a refractive index of the cladding portion, the core portion includes a first core portion having a central axis and a second core portion circumscribing the first core portion, a mean value of a mass fraction of chlorine in the first core portion is lower than a mean value of a mass fraction of chlorine in the second core portion, a mean value of a mass fraction of fluorine in the first core portion is higher than a mean value of a mass fraction of fluorine in the second core portion, a total value of the mean value of the mass fraction of chlorine and the mean value of the mass fraction of fluorine in the second core portion is 5000 ppm or less, and the core portion includes either or both of an alkali metal element and an alkaline earth metal element.
In the optical fibers disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 and 2, since the chlorine concentration in the inner core is low, transmission loss is not sufficiently reduced. In the optical fibers disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 and 2, transmission loss is not sufficiently reduced with respect to the halogen concentrations in the inner core and the outer core.
An object of the present disclosure is to provide an optical fiber and an optical fiber preform that achieve both manufacturability and reduction in transmission loss.
According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide an optical fiber and an optical fiber preform that achieve both manufacturability and reduction in transmission loss.
Embodiments of the present disclosure are first listed and described. An optical fiber according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is an optical fiber made of silica-based glass, including: a core; and a cladding circumscribing the core, in which a refractive index of the core is larger than a refractive index of the cladding, the core includes a first core having a central axis and a second core circumscribing the first core, a mean value of a mass fraction of chlorine (hereinafter, referred to as “mean chlorine concentration”) in the first core is lower than a mean chlorine concentration in the second core, a mean value of a mass fraction of fluorine (hereinafter, referred to as “mean fluorine concentration”) in the first core is higher than a mean fluorine concentration in the second core, a total value of the mean chlorine concentration and the mean fluorine concentration in the second core is 5000 ppm or less, and the core includes either or both of an alkali metal element and an alkaline earth metal element. For example, when the mean chlorine concentration is 2000 ppm and the mean fluorine concentration is 2000 ppm, the total value of the mean chlorine concentration and the mean fluorine concentration is 4000 ppm.
In the optical fiber, both manufacturability and reduction in transmission loss can be achieved.
The mean chlorine concentration in the first core may be 10 ppm or greater and 500 ppm or less. In this case, both manufacturability and reduction in transmission loss can be easily achieved. When the mean chlorine concentration in the first core is less than 10 ppm, chlorine bonded to glass defects generated during drawing is insufficient, and the transmission loss increases. When the mean chlorine concentration in the first core is greater than 500 ppm, preform defects may occur due to reaction with an alkali metal element group during manufacturing of the preform.
The mean chlorine concentration in the second core may be 500 ppm or greater and 3000 ppm or less. In this case, both manufacturability and reduction in transmission loss can be easily achieved. When the mean chlorine concentration in the second core is less than 500 ppm, chlorine bonded to glass defects generated during drawing is insufficient, and the transmission loss increases. When the mean chlorine concentration in the second core is greater than 3000 ppm, although the second core does not include the alkali metal element group at the preform stage, a preform defect may occur due to reaction with the alkali metal element group due to diffusion during manufacturing of the preform.
The mean fluorine concentration in the first core may be 500 ppm or greater and 4000 ppm or less. In this case, both manufacturability and reduction in transmission loss can be easily achieved. When the mean fluorine concentration in the first core is less than 500 ppm, reduction of Rayleigh scattering loss due to viscosity reduction is insufficient, and the transmission loss increases. When the mean fluorine concentration in the first core is greater than 4000 ppm, the transmission loss increases due to concentration fluctuation.
The mean fluorine concentration in the second core may be 500 ppm or greater and 4000 ppm or less. In this case, both manufacturability and reduction in transmission loss can be easily achieved. When the mean fluorine concentration in the second core is less than 500 ppm, reduction of Rayleigh scattering loss due to viscosity reduction is insufficient, and the transmission loss increases. When the mean fluorine concentration in the second core is greater than 4000 ppm, the transmission loss increases due to concentration fluctuation. By adding fluorine to the second core, the viscosity of the core decreases as compared with the case of using chlorine alone, and the transmission loss caused by Rayleigh scattering can be reduced.
The total mean value of mass fractions (hereinafter, referred to as “mean concentration”) of the alkali metal element and the alkaline earth metal element in the core may be 0.2 ppm or greater and 200 ppm or less. In this case, both manufacturability and reduction in transmission loss can be easily achieved. When the mean concentration is less than 0.2 ppm, reduction of Rayleigh scattering loss due to viscosity reduction is insufficient, and the transmission loss increases. When the mean concentration is greater than 200 ppm, the transmission loss increases due to concentration fluctuation.
The mean concentration of the alkali metal element and the alkaline earth metal element in the core may be 30 ppm or greater. In this case, both manufacturability and reduction in transmission loss can be more easily achieved.
The core may include any one of sodium, potassium, rubidium, cesium, and calcium as the alkali metal element or the alkaline earth metal element. In this case, reduction in transmission loss can be easily realized. In the optical fiber of the present disclosure with sufficiently reduced transmission loss, the transmission loss is not deteriorated even under radiation. That is, the transmission loss can be reduced even without an OD group. When the chlorine concentration is high, glass defects are suppressed, and such transmission loss can be reduced.
A difference between a mean value of a mass fraction of fluorine in the cladding and the mean value of the mass fraction of fluorine in the second core may be 8400 ppm or greater. In this case, transmission loss can be further reduced.
The difference between the mean value of the mass fraction of fluorine in the cladding and the mean value of the mass fraction of fluorine in the second core may be 8600 ppm or greater and 9000 ppm or less. In this case, transmission loss can be suppressed.
The mean value of the mass fraction of fluorine in the cladding may be 8000 ppm or greater and 13000 ppm or less. In this case, transmission loss can be further reduced.
An optical fiber preform according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a core portion; and a cladding portion circumscribing the core portion, in which a refractive index of the core portion is larger than a refractive index of the cladding portion, the core portion includes a first core portion having a central axis and a second core portion circumscribing the first core portion, a mean chlorine concentration in the first core portion is lower than a mean chlorine concentration in the second core portion, a mean fluorine concentration in the first core portion is higher than a mean fluorine concentration in the second core portion, a total value of the mean chlorine concentration and the mean fluorine concentration in the second core portion is 5000 ppm or less, and the core portion includes either or both of an alkali metal element and an alkaline earth metal element.
In the optical fiber preform, both manufacturability of the optical fiber and reduction in transmission loss can be achieved.
The mean concentration of chlorine in the first core portion may be 1000 ppm or less. In this case, the occurrence of preform abnormality can be suppressed. Here, the preform abnormality refers to a portion where a part of glass such as the core portion is crystallized.
The mean concentration of fluorine in the first core portion may be 5000 ppm or less. In this case, the occurrence of preform abnormality can be suppressed.
Specific examples of the optical fiber and the optical fiber preform of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to these examples, but is indicated by the scope of the claims and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the scope of the claims. In the description of the drawings, the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.
Core 10 includes a first core 11 and a second core 12. First core 11 has central axis C. Second core 12 surrounds first core 11 and circumscribes first core 11. Cladding 20 includes a first cladding and a second cladding (not illustrated). The first cladding surrounds core 10 and circumscribes core 10. The second cladding surrounds the first cladding and circumscribes the first cladding.
Core 10 includes chlorine, fluorine, and an alkali metal element group. The mean chlorine concentration in first core 11 is 10 ppm or greater and 500 ppm or less. The mean chlorine concentration in second core 12 is 500 ppm or greater and 3000 ppm or less. The mean chlorine concentration in first core 11 is lower than the mean chlorine concentration in second core 12. The mean fluorine concentration in first core 11 is 500 ppm or greater and 4000 ppm or less. The mean fluorine concentration in second core 12 is 500 ppm or greater and 4000 ppm or less. The mean fluorine concentration in first core 11 is higher than the mean fluorine concentration in second core 12. The total value of the mean chlorine concentration and the mean fluorine concentration in second core 12 is 5000 ppm or less.
Core 10 includes the alkali metal element group. The mean concentration of the alkali metal element group in core 10 is 0.2 ppm or greater and 200 ppm or less. Core 10 includes any one of sodium, potassium, rubidium, cesium, and calcium as the alkali metal element or the alkaline earth metal element.
Optical fiber 1 is manufactured by drawing the optical fiber preform according to an embodiment. The optical fiber preform is made of silica-based glass. The optical fiber preform includes a core portion serving as core 10 and a cladding portion serving as cladding 20. The core portion has a central axis of the optical fiber preform corresponding to central axis C. The cladding portion surrounds the core portion and circumscribes the core portion. A refractive index of the core portion is larger than a refractive index of the cladding portion.
The core portion includes a first core portion serving as first core 11 and a second core portion serving as second core 12. The first core portion has central axis C. The second core portion surrounds the first core portion and circumscribes the first core portion. The cladding portion includes a first cladding portion serving as the first cladding and a second cladding portion serving as the second cladding. The first cladding portion surrounds the core portion and circumscribes the core portion. The second cladding portion surrounds the first cladding portion and circumscribes the first cladding portion. Since the type and concentration of the dopant in the optical fiber preform correspond to the type and concentration of the dopant in optical fiber 1, detailed description thereof will be omitted. The alkali metal element group is added to the first core portion and diffuses during drawing.
In the preparation process S1, a first core pipe and a second core pipe are prepared. The first core pipe is a glass pipe made of silica-based glass and becomes first core 11 through the first core portion. The first core pipe is prepared as a glass pipe for diffusing a dopant such as an alkali metal element. A silica-based glass cylindrical body as the base of the first core pipe includes 10 ppm or greater and 500 ppm or less of chlorine and 500 ppm or greater and 4000 ppm or less of fluorine. The concentration of other dopants and impurities is 10 ppm or less. An outer diameter of the first core pipe is 30 mm or more and 40 mm or less. An inner diameter is 15 mm or more and 25 mm or less.
The method for measuring the chlorine concentration is, for example, as follows. An end face of optical fiber 1 perpendicular to the fiber axis (central axis C) is polished, and the chlorine concentration is measured by an electron probe micro analyzer (EPMA) at each position along a straight line passing through the central position of the end face of the optical fiber. The conditions of measurement by EPMA are, for example, acceleration voltage of 20 kV, probe beam diameter of 1 μm or less, and measurement interval of 100 nm or less. The same applies to a method for measuring concentrations of other elements.
The mean value of the mass fraction (mean concentration) described in the present specification is, for example, a concentration represented by the following equation (1) in the case of a mean fluorine concentration of the silica-based glass cylindrical body. F(r) represents a fluorine concentration at a position of a radius r. c represents a radius of the silica-based glass cylindrical body. As in the case of optical fiber 1, the concentration is measured by, for example, EPMA, but the measurement concentrations may be different from those in the case of optical fiber 1. There is no problem as long as the concentration is calculated using the calibration curve under respective conditions.
The second core pipe is a glass pipe made of silica-based glass and becomes second core 12 through the second core portion. An outer diameter of the second core pipe is 40 mm or more and 90 mm or less. An inner diameter of the second core pipe is 15 mm or more and 30 mm or less.
In the present embodiment, the preparation process S1 is performed before the addition process S2, but the second core pipe may be prepared before the first rod-in collapse process S7. That is, the preparation process S1 may include a first core pipe preparation process performed before the addition process S2 and a second core pipe preparation process performed before the second rod-in collapse process S7.
In the addition process S2, a potassium (K) element is added to the inner surface of the first core pipe as a dopant of the alkali metal element group. As a raw material, 6 g or more and 10 g or less of potassium bromide (KBr) is used. This raw material is heated to a temperature of 750° C. or more and 850° C. or less by an external heat source to generate raw material vapor. While the raw material vapor is introduced into the first core pipe together with a carrier gas composed of oxygen at a flow rate of 1 SLM or more and 3 SLM or less (1 liter/min or more and 3 liter/min or less in terms of standard conditions), the first core pipe is heated by an oxyhydrogen burner from the outside such that the outer surface of the first core pipe has a temperature of 1600° C. or more and 1800° C. or less. At this time, the heating is performed by traversing the burner at a speed of 30 mm/min or more and 60 mm/min or less in a total of 10 or more and 15 turns or less so that the K element is diffused and added to the inner surface of the first core pipe.
In the diameter reduction process S3, the diameter of the first core pipe to which K is added is reduced. At this time, the first core pipe is heated by the external heat source so that the outer surface of the first core pipe becomes 2000° C. or more and 2300° C. or less while flowing oxygen into the first core pipe in a range of 0.5 SLM or more and 1.0 SLM or less. The heating is performed by traversing the external heat source in a total of 6 turns or more and 10 turns or less so that the diameter of the first core pipe is reduced until the inner diameter thereof becomes 3 mm or more and 6 mm or less.
In the etching process S4, the inner surface of the first core pipe is etched. At this time, vapor phase etching is performed by heating the first core pipe by the external heat source while a mixed gas of SF6 (0.2 SLM or more and 0.4 SLM or less) and chlorine (0.5 SLM or more and 1.0 SLM or less) is introduced into the first core pipe. In this way, the inner surface of the first core pipe containing impurities added together with the target dopant at a high concentration can be scraped, and the impurities can be removed.
In the solidification process S5, the first core pipe is solidified. In the solidification process S5, a mixed gas of oxygen (0.1 SLM or more and 0.5 SLM or less) and He (0.5 SLM or more and 1.0 SLM or less) is introduced into the first core pipe, and the first core pipe is solidified by setting the surface temperature to 2000° C. or more and 2300° C. while reducing the absolute pressure in the first core pipe to 97 kPa or less. By this solidification, a first core portion (a diameter of 20 mm or more and 30 mm or less) is obtained.
In the first stretching and grinding process S6, the first core portion is stretched to have a diameter of 20 mm or more and 30 mm or less, and the outer peripheral portion of the first core portion is ground to have a diameter of 15 mm or more and 25 mm or less.
In the first rod-in collapse process S7, the first core portion obtained up to the first stretching and grinding process S6 is used as a rod, and the second core pipe prepared in the preparation process S1 is used as a pipe to perform rod-in collapse. According to this rod-in collapse method, the first core portion and the second core pipe are heated and integrated by the external heat source. As a result, the second core portion is formed around the first core portion. As a result, a core portion (a diameter of 20 mm or more and 90 mm or less) is obtained.
In the second stretching and grinding process S8, the core portion is stretched to have a diameter of 20 mm or more and 35 mm or less, and the outer peripheral portion of the core portion is ground to have a diameter of 15 mm or more and 25 mm or less.
In the second rod-in collapse process S9, the core portion obtained up to the second stretching and grinding process S8 is used as a rod, and a silica-based glass pipe to which fluorine is added is used as a pipe to perform rod-in collapse. According to this rod-in collapse method, the core portion and the silica-based glass pipe to which fluorine is added are heated and integrated by the external heat source. As a result, the first cladding portion is formed around the core portion. A difference in relative refractive index between the core portion and the first cladding portion is about 0.34% at the maximum. As a result of the synthesis by the rod-in-collapse method, it is possible to suppress the amount of the OH group in the core portion and the first cladding portion in the vicinity thereof to be sufficiently low.
In the OVD process S10, first, a rod in which the core portion and the first cladding portion are integrated is stretched to have a predetermined radius. Subsequently, the second cladding portion including fluorine on the outside of the rod having a predetermined radius is synthesized by an OVD method. As a result, an optical fiber preform is manufactured.
In the drawing process S11, optical fiber 1 is manufactured by drawing the optical fiber preform manufactured by the method for manufacturing the optical fiber preform described above. The drawing speed is 1800 m/min or more and 2300 m/min or less. The drawing tension is, for example, 0.5 N.
Table 1 is a table summarizing specifications of seven types of optical fibers manufactured and evaluated. This table shows, for each of Fibers 1 to 7, the mean K concentration in the core, the transmission loss (α1.55) at a wavelength of 1550 nm, the core diameter, the cut-off wavelength (λcc), the effective cross-sectional area (Aeff), the mean chlorine concentration in the first core, the mean chlorine concentration in the second core, the mean fluorine concentration in the first core, the mean fluorine concentration in the second core, the sum of the mean chlorine concentration and the mean fluorine concentration in the second core, the mean fluorine concentration in the cladding, and the difference between the mean fluorine concentration in the cladding and the mean fluorine concentration in the second core. Here, the cladding refers to the entire cladding including the first cladding and the second cladding. The various concentrations in the present specification are not concentrations in the optical fiber but concentrations in the glass pipes serving as the first core and the second core after manufacturing. However, the concentration in the optical fiber can also be acquired. A boundary between the first core and the second core in the optical fiber is a place where the inclination between the points in the radial direction of the chlorine concentration is the largest in the core. However, depending on the measurement conditions of EPMA, the concentration has noise. In this case, the place of the boundary between the first core and the second core can be calculated after the noise is suppressed using the moving average of the plurality of points.
Table 2 is a table summarizing specifications of eight types of optical fibers manufactured and evaluated. This table shows, for each of Fibers 8 to 15, the mean K concentration in the core, the transmission loss (α1.55) at a wavelength of 1550 nm, the core diameter, the cut-off wavelength (λcc), the effective cross-sectional area (Aeff), the mean chlorine concentration in the first core, the mean chlorine concentration in the second core, the mean fluorine concentration in the first core, and the mean fluorine concentration in the second core.
Table 3 is a table summarizing specifications of eight types of optical fibers manufactured and evaluated. This table shows, for each of Fibers 16 to 23, the mean K concentration in the core, the transmission loss (α1.55) at a wavelength of 1550 nm, the core diameter, the cut-off wavelength (λcc), the effective cross-sectional area (Aeff), the mean chlorine concentration in the first core, the mean chlorine concentration in the second core, the mean fluorine concentration in the first core, and the mean fluorine concentration in the second core.
Table 4 is a table summarizing specifications of six types of optical fibers manufactured and evaluated. This table shows, for each of Fibers 24 to 29, the mean K concentration in the core, the transmission loss (α1.55) at a wavelength of 1550 nm, the core diameter, the cut-off wavelength (λcc), the effective cross-sectional area (Aeff), the presence or absence of the OD group, the mean chlorine concentration in the first core, the mean chlorine concentration in the second core, the mean fluorine concentration in the first core, and the mean fluorine concentration in the second core.
For Fibers 24 to 26, a treatment (deuterium (D2) treatment) of exposing the fiber to a deuterium gas atmosphere after the drawing process S11. For Fibers 27 to 29, the D2 treatment was not performed. It was confirmed that an increase in transmission loss occurs when the mean chlorine concentration in the second core is less than 300 ppm. This is considered to be because glass defects occurred.
Table 5 is a table summarizing specifications of 13 types of optical fiber preforms manufactured and evaluated. This table shows, for each of Preforms 1 to 13, the mean K concentration in the core portion, the mean chlorine concentration in the first core portion, the mean chlorine concentration in the second core portion, the mean fluorine concentration in the first core portion, the mean fluorine concentration in the second core portion, and the number of preform abnormalities. The preform abnormality refers to, for example, a portion where a part of glass such as the core portion is crystallized. When the portion having the preform abnormality is drawn, a defect such as unstable fiber diameter may occur due to a difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the glass portion and the crystal portion. The number of preform abnormalities is the number of preform abnormal locations included in one preform. The size of the optical fiber preform is the same in all of Preform 1 to Preform 13.
When the mean chlorine concentration or mean fluorine concentration in the first core portion increases, the number of preform abnormalities increases. It is considered that the preform abnormality is caused by a crystal generated by a compound such as KCl or KF.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-117840 | Jul 2021 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2022/025961 | 6/29/2022 | WO |
