Fiber apparatus having improved grating fabrication and performance characteristics

• Main Authors: DIGIOVANNI DAVID JOHN, WESTBROOK PAUL STEPHEN, OH KYUNGHWAN, REED WILLIAM ALFRED, WINDELER ROBERT SCOTT, ATKINS ROBERT MICHAEL
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 06.11.2003
• Edition: 7
• Subjects: CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF GLASSES, GLAZES, OR VITREOUSENAMELS; CHEMISTRY; GLASS; JOINING GLASS TO GLASS OR OTHER MATERIALS; METALLURGY; MINERAL OR SLAG WOOL; OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS, OR APPARATUS; OPTICS; PHYSICS; SURFACE TREATMENT OF FIBRES OR FILAMENTS MADE FROM GLASS,MINERALS OR SLAGS; SURFACE TREATMENT OF GLASS

Embodiments of the invention include a singlemode optical fiber having an antimony (Sb) doped core region, a suitable cladding region formed on the core region, and one or more gratings written in the optical fiber. Optical fibers manufactured according to embodiments of the invention provide faster growth of grating strength, higher thermal stability, and longer photosensitive wavelength compared to conventional Ge doped silica optical fibers. The optical fiber is fabricated for applications such as fiber grating applications where the index of the core is modulated by UV radiation. Also, the addition of Sb in the core region of the singlemode optical fiber provides higher temperature (e.g., greater than 100° C.) applications of fiber gratings and a reduced degradation of the band rejection efficiency. Also, the optical fibers are more conducive to direct and non-destructive grating writing over polymer jackets with a longer photosensitive wavelength in the UV range.