Patent ID: 7546750
Filing Date: 2009-06-16
Classification: C03B,C03C,G02B,Y02P

Abstract:
1. A method for making optical fiber, the method comprising the steps of: forming a glass core rod by soot deposition, the glass core rod having a core region surrounded by a cladding region; dehydrating the glass core rod; consolidating the glass core rod to form an optical fiber preform; drawing fiber from the optical fiber perform, wherein the drawn optical fiber has a transmission loss at 1385 nm that is less than 0.33 db/km; and exposing the drawn optical fiber to an atmosphere containing deuterium at room temperature, wherein the partial pressure of deuterium is between approximately 0.01 and 0.05 atmospheres, and wherein the drawn optical fiber is exposed to the atmosphere containing deuterium for a time period that is sufficient to limit any future hydrogen-aging increase in transmission loss at 1385 nm to less than 0.04 db/km.