Patent ID: 7930904

Claim:
A method of making an optical fiber comprising forming via a CVD operation a soot containing optical fiber preform; consolidating the soot in said soot containing preform in a gaseous atmosphere under conditions which are effective to trap a portion of said gaseous atmosphere in said preform during said consolidation step, thereby forming a consolidated preform having voids in said preform, and using said preform in a manufacturing process to make an optical fiber having a core region having a first refractive index and a cladding region having a second refractive index lower than that of the core, said cladding comprising a region of non-periodically located voids surrounding said core having a total fiber void area percent, when the fiber is viewed in cross-section, that is greater than 0.05 percent, wherein said consolidating step comprises first exposing said preform to a temperature greater than about 1500 C and a feed rate into a consolidation furnace sufficient to result in at least a portion of said preform increasing in temperature at a rate greater than about 12 C/min.