Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd.

Kenji Sonoda

Hiroshi Yokogawa

Kenji Tsubaki

Masaru Yokoyama

Kenji Kawano

Mikio Sei

Tsuneyoshi Kamae

Keishi Kousaka

Nobuaki Yabunouchi

Aerogel substrate and method for preparing the same

There is provided a process for producing an aerogel which comprises lowering a pH of a water glass solution to obtain a sol, gelling the sol to obtain a hydrogel, replacing water in the gel with an organic solvent, reacting the gel with a hydrophobilizing agent having hydrophobic groups as well as functional groups reactive with silanol groups in liquid phase, followed by supercritically drying; or hydrophobilizing and supercritically drying the resultant gel at the same time. Preferably, the hydrogel is prepared by ion exchanging alkali metals in the water glass solution using an ion exchange resin to obtain a sol which is subjected to suspension polymerization.

Process for producing aerogel

A side-face illuminating optical fiber comprising a core 1 transmitting therethrough light entering from an incident end of the optical fiber, a cladding 2 made of silica aerogel which covers an outer peripheral surface of the core, a transparent coating layer 3 which covers an outer periphery of the cladding, and an illuminating portion formed at least in a part of an interface between the core and the cladding. The light transmitting though said core radiates through the illuminating portion to the cladding.

Side-face illuminating optical fiber

An optical fiber comprises a core 1 extending in a longitudinal direction and a cladding 3 of silica aerogel preferably having a hydrophobic property to provide a high optical transmission efficiency. The silica aerogel of the cladding is prepared by polymerizing a hydrolyzed alkoxysilane before a supercritical drying treatment and is subjected to a hydrophobic treatment before or during the supercritical drying.

Optical fiber

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Kyoto, Japan

Kenji Sonoda