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Fiber fabrication
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Fiber fabrication
Two basic techniques used in the
fabrication of all glass optical
waveguides:
Vapor phase oxidation process
Direct melt method
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The direct - melt method follows
traditional glass making procedures in
that optical fibers are made directly from
the molten state of purified components of
silicate glasses.
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In the vapor- phase oxidation process, highly
pure vapors of metal halides ex. SiCl
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and GeCl
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react with oxygen to form a white powder of SiO
2

particles.
The particles are then collected on the surface
of a bulk glass by one of four different commonly
used processes and are sintered( transformed to
a homogeneous glass mass by heating without
melting) by one of a variety of techniques to form
a clear glass rod or tube.
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This rod or tube is called a preform. It is
typically around 10 25 mm in diameter
and 60 120cm long.
Fibers are made from the preform by
using the fiber drawing apparatus.
The preform is precision fed into a circular
heater called the drawing furnace. Here,
the preform is precision fed into a
circular heater called the drawing furnace.
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Here, the preform end is softened to the
point where it can be drawn into a very
thin filament, which becomes the optical
fiber.
The turning speed of the take up drum at
the bottom of the draw tower determines
how fast the fiber is drawn.
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This, in turn, will determine the thickness
of the fiber, so that a precise rotation rate
must be maintained.
An optical fiber thickness monitor is used
a feedback loop for this speed regulation.
To protect the bare glass fiber from
external contaminants, an elastic coating
is applied to the fiber immediately after it is
drawn.
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Fiber fabrication methods
Outside Vapor phase Oxidation
(OVPO)
Vapor phase Axial Deposition
Modified Chemical Vapor
Deposition
Plasma Activated Chemical Vapor
Deposition
Double crucible (not clean enough
for telecommunications)

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Outside Vapor Phase Oxidation
( OVPO)
A layer of SiO
2
particles called a soot is
deposited from a burner onto a rotating
graphite or ceramic mandrel.
The glass soot adheres to this bait rod
and, layer by layer, a cylindrical, porous
glass preform is built up.
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By properly controlling the constituents of
the metal halide vapor stream during the
deposition process, the glass
compositions and dimensions desired for
the core and cladding can be incorporated
into the preform. Either Step or graded
index preforms can thus be made.
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When the deposition process is completed, the
mandrel is removed and the porous tube is then
vitrified in a dry atmosphere at a high
temperature > 1400 to a clear clear glass
preform.
This clear preform is subsequently mounted in a
fiber drawing tower and into a fiber. The
central hole in the tube preform collapses during
this drawing process.
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OVPO preform preparation
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OVPO preform preparation
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Two phases of the OVD process: (a) Laydown; (b) consolidation.
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Vapor phase Axial deposition
( VAD)
VAD Vapor phase axial deposition
The SiO
2
particles are formed in the same
way as described in the OVPO process.
As these particles emerge from the torches,
they are deposited onto the end surface of a
silica glass rod which acts as a seed.
A porous preform is grown in the axial
direction by moving the rod upward.
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The rod is also continuously rotated to
maintain cylindrical symmetry of the
particle deposition.
As the porous preform moves upward, it
is transformed into a solid, transparent rod
preform by zone melting with the carbon
ring heater.
The resultant preform can then be drawn
into a fiber by heating it in another furnace.
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Both step and graded index fibers in either
multimode or single mode varieties can be made
by the VAD method.
Advantages:
No central hole as in OVPO
the preform can be fabricated in continuous lengths
which can affect process costs and product yields
deposition chamber and the zone melting ring heater
are tightly connected to each other in the same
enclosure allows the achievement of a clean
environment.
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VAD preform
preparation.
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Modified Chemical Vapor
Deposition
( MCVD)
widely adopted to produce very low loss
graded index fibers.
The glass vapor particles, arising from the
reaction of the constituent metal halide gases
and oxygen, flow through the inside of a
revolving silica tube.
As the SiO
2
particles are deposited, they are
sintered to a clear glass layer by an
oxyhydrogen torch which travels back and forth
along the tube.
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MCVD
When the desired thickness of glass has
been deposited, the vapor flow is shut off
and the tube is heated strongly to cause it
to collapse into a solid rod preform.
The fiber that is subsequently drawn from
this preform rod will have a core that
consists of the vapor deposited material
and a cladding that consists of the original
silica tube.

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Plasma activated chemical vapor
deposition
Similar to MCVD process in that deposition
occurs within a silica tube.
However, a nonisothermal microwave plasma
operating at low pressure initiates the chemical
reaction.
With the silica tube held at temperatures in the
range of 1000 - 1200C to reduce mechanical
stresses in the growing glass films, a moving
microwave resonator operating at 2.45GHz
generates a plasma inside the tube to activate
the chemical reaction.
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This process deposites clear glass
material directly on the tube wall, no soot
formation.
No sintering required.
Once the deposition results in the desired
glass thickness, the tube is collapsed into
a preform just as in the MCVD case.
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IVPO preform
preparation.
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Plasma Chemical Vapor
Deposition
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Resonator
Plasma
SiCl4+GeCl4+
C2F6+O2
Silica Tube
Pumping
system
Magnetron
PCVD
Furnace
PLASMA DEPOSITION
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Double crucible Method.
Silica, chalgenide, and hallide glass fibers
can all be made using a direct melt double
crucible technique.
glass rods for the core and cladding
materials are first made separately by
melting mixtures of purified powders.
These rods are then used as feedstock
for each of two concentric crucibles in a
continuous production process.
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Double-crucible fiber
drawing process.
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Has the advantage of being continuous
process, but careful attention must be paid to
avoid contaminants during the melting.
main sources of contaminants arise from
the furnace environment
crucible
Silica crucibles are normally used in preparing
the glass feed rods, whereas the double
concentric crucibles used in the drawing furnace
are made from platinum.
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Tight Buffer construction