Proceedings Article | 1 February 2006
KEYWORDS: Glasses, Silica, Optical fibers, Sapphire, Waveguides, Cladding, Optical communications, Deposition processes, Fabrication, Fiber amplifiers
In optic communication field, fiber is the most adoptive material, as it is endowed with well performances in optic communication, amplifier, sensor, power delivery and so on. In this paper, species of fiber and their main applications are introduced, then, the invention and subsequent development of main methods for making optical fibers are reviewed and compared, with the ordinary vapor deposition methods of MCVD, PCVD, VAD, OVD, all kinds of casting methods, direct drawing method of two-crucibles, extruding methods to SCF and POF, special fabrication methods to optic fibers or hollow wave guides.
With the newly arisen fibers of PCF, SMNWs, there are also some descriptions about their main principles, fabrication methods and future development. In conclusion, some optimism predictions of fiber are drawn out based on the requirement of wide-band communication and optic wave-guides technology.
