Importance

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Abstract

In the manufacture of optical fiber having a core of a core material and a cladding of a cladding material by drawing the fiber from an optical glass preform, the preform is manufactured by reacting a first plurality of initial reactants in their vapor state to obtan core material particles, by producing a coherent core body from the core material particles, by reacting a second plurality of initial reactants in their vapor state to obtain cladding material particles, by providing a coherent porous cladding on the core body from the cladding material particles, and by sintering the resulting composite body to convert the same into the preform. The core body can either be sintered before combining the same with the porous cladding material, or it may remain in its initial porous state until the sintering of the composite body. The core body may be produced by compressing the core material particles, either in a rigid mold by applying axial pressure in the radially inward directions to the flexible mold and through the same to the material confined therein. A similar approach can also be used with respect to the formation of the cladding body, except that the core body will now be centrically arranged in the mold cavity and hence the cladding body will be compressed around the same. However, the core body or the cladding body can also be produced from a firm body of the respective material, by being shaped from such firm body.

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First Claim