Patent ID: 11912606
Assignee: THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
Field: Other special machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC C  G | IPC C  G

Claim 0:
1. A method of making infrared-transmitting, polarization maintaining (IR-PM) optical fiber, comprising:
forming a cane comprising an infrared-transmitting, non-silica glass;
compressing the cane to form a compressed cane with an approximately elliptical cross-section and an approximately elliptical core;
inserting the compressed cane into a round hole in a tube to form an assembly, wherein there is air space between the compressed cane and the tube; and
stretching the assembly into a fiber that is approximately round with an approximately elliptical core, wherein the fiber has a birefringence greater than 10−5, and wherein the fiber is infrared-transmitting at wavelengths between 2 and 15 μm.