Patent ID: 8301000

Claim:
A single-mode optical fiber, comprising: a central core positioned within an outer optical cladding, the central core having a radius (r 1 ) and a positive index difference (Δn 1 ) with the outer optical cladding; a first intermediate cladding positioned between the central core and the outer optical cladding, the first intermediate cladding having a radius (r 2 ) and an index difference (Δn 2 ) with the outer optical cladding; a second intermediate cladding positioned between the first intermediate cladding and the outer optical cladding, the second intermediate cladding having a radius (r 3 ) and a positive index difference (Δn 3 ) with the outer optical cladding; wherein the optical fiber has a cable cut-off wavelength of 1260 nanometers or less; wherein, at a wavelength of 1310 nanometers, the optical fiber has a mode field diameter of between 8.6 microns and 9.5 microns with a tolerance of ±0.6 micron; wherein the optical fiber has a zero chromatic dispersion wavelength of between 1300 nanometers and 1324 nanometers; wherein, at the zero chromatic dispersion wavelength, the optical fiber has a chromatic dispersion slope of 0.092 ps/(nm 2 ·km) or less; and wherein, at a wavelength of 1550 nanometers, the optical fiber has an effective area of at least 90 μm 2 .