Patent ID: 8869566

Claim:
A method for making an optical fiber preform for making an optical fiber comprising the steps of: providing an apparatus, the apparatus including an inner cavity and an inner wall, the inner wall surrounding the inner cavity; placing a partially manufactured preform into an inner cavity of an apparatus, the partially manufactured preform comprising inner core material which is surrounded by a porous soot region, the porous soot region including cladding soot which will result in at least 10 percent of the thickness of the glass cladding in the finished optical fiber, and the porous soot region comprises soot deposited by chemical vapor deposition; depositing particulate glass material in the inner cavity between the partially manufactured preform and the inner wall of said inner cavity; and applying a radially inward pressure against the particulate glass material to pressurize the particulate glass material against the porous layer of soot on the partially manufactured preform.