Hughes Aircraft Company

Arlie G Standlee

Gregory L Tangonan

Joseph L Pikulski

Antonio C Pastor

Joseph A Wysocki

Anthony L Gentile

Douglas A Pinnow

Michael R Vince

George H Hulderman

Roger R Turk

Wilbur M Bailey

Vincent L Jones

Arthur J Timper

James A Harrington

A fiber optic buffer defect detection system including a laser, for illuminating the fiber buffer with a collimated beam of light energy, and detectors for detecting any scattering of the beam, from a defect in the fiber buffer. The detectors are mounted to collect scattering out of a radial plane defined by the angular rotation of the beam about the fiber at the point of intersection of the beam with the fiber buffer.

Optic fiber buffer defect detection system

This invention provides a method for conversion of congruently melting polycrystalline fibers to single crystal fibers. The method is particularly useful for production of fibers ranging from about 30 .mu.m to about 1,000 .mu.m in diameter, which are capable of infrared (IR) transmission and of functioning in nonlinear optical applications. The polycrystalline fiber is converted to a single crystal fiber by creating a melt zone near one end of said polycrystalline fiber and then causing said melt zone to travel a length of said polycrystalline fiber at least once, so that the fiber continuously melts and recrystallizes into a single crystal along the length so that such length becomes one continuous crystal. In another embodiment of the invention, the method described above is utilized to improve the surface characteristics of a single crystal. In yet another embodiment of the invention, the method disclosed above is utilized to produce a fiber comprised of a polycrystalline core surrounded by a single crystal sleeve or large grained crystal sleeve which evidences single crystal behavior. This method is particularly useful for production of fibers ranging from about 30 .mu.m to 1,000 .mu.m in diameter, which are capable of infrared (IR) transmission. If the sleeve is a sufficiently large proportion of the fiber produced, this method is particularly useful for production of fibers which may be capable of functioning in nonlinear optical applications.

Fabrication of single crystal fibers from congruently melting

There is disclosed a fiber optic waveguide which is particularly suited for infrared radiation transmission at extended wavelengths. The core of the waveguide is fabricated from heavy ionic compounds selected from metal halides in order to achieve such extended infrared transparency. While it is impossible to prepare these materials into optical fibers using conventional fiber drawing techniques, the present invention teaches how such materials may be prepared into optical fibers using an extrusion process at elevated temperatures and high pressures.

Infrared transmitting fiber optical waveguide extruded from halides of

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Thousand Oaks, CA, United States of America

Arlie G Standlee