Patent ID: 6644069
Filing Date: 2003-11-11
Classification: C03B

Abstract:
An end heating and processing method of an optical fiber preform including a step of processing an optical fiber preform by heating and melting an end of a sintered optical fiber preform comprising a core portion and a cladding portion formed on an outer circumference thereof so as to process the end such that a shape is provided for drawing an optical fiber, processing step includesan optical fiber perform positioning step of positioning the end of said optical fiber preform in the vicinity of a heating portion for heating the end of said optical fiber preform, an end processing step of heating the end of said optical fiber preform to process the end to the shape of a melted and deformed portion at the time of said drawing, an unnecessary portion elimination step of eliminating an unnecessary portion of the end processed portion obtained by heating and melting said optical fiber preform processed to said predetermined shape, and an optical fiber preform end cooling step of blowing an inert gas to the end of the optical fiber preform remaining after the elimination of said unnecessary portion to cool the same.