Effects of heat treatment and HF etching on the strength of silica lightguides

Charles R. Kurkjian; M. John Matthewson; J. M. Rooney

doi:10.1117/12.548411

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10 September 2004 Effects of heat treatment and HF etching on the strength of silica lightguides

Charles R. Kurkjian, M. John Matthewson, J. M. Rooney

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Proceedings Volume 5465, Reliability of Optical Fiber Components, Devices, Systems, and Networks II; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.548411
Event: Photonics Europe, 2004, Strasbourg, France

Abstract

Often lightguide fiber processing involves steps that may cause degradation of very high strength or flaw-free, perfect fiber. A very obvious type of degradation is the development of abrasion flaws during handling. Also, heating of a fiber to moderate temperatures (~300-600°C), for instance during the soldering of pigtails, has been shown to result in strength degradation of strong fiber. It has been suggested that the use of HF etching may be a reasonable technique for the elimination of many types of strength-lowering defects. In this paper we discuss early results from the literature on the effects of heating and HF etching on the strength of silica glass and present new results on both.

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Charles R. Kurkjian, M. John Matthewson, and J. M. Rooney "Effects of heat treatment and HF etching on the strength of silica lightguides", Proc. SPIE 5465, Reliability of Optical Fiber Components, Devices, Systems, and Networks II, (10 September 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.548411

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