Lucent Technologies Inc.

At&t Bell Laboratories

Maureen Gillen Chan

Valerie Jeanne Kuck

Howard Edan Katz

Daryl Inniss

Marcia Lea Schilling

Raffaele A Sabia

Stanley Kaufman

Kent B Connole

Edward Dennis Nelson

Timothy S Dougherty

Karen D Dye

Leonard D Loan, Deceased

An optical fiber protected from degradation caused by corrosion from environmental fluids. The optical fiber includes a core-cladding assembly surrounded with a thin quasi metal oxide film (preferably .about.10 nm in depth). Over time, particularly under the influence of the elevated temperatures, the initially deposited reagents of the thin film oxidize or hydrolyze, removing the organic components, and bonding a quasi metal oxide film on the surface of the cladding. The resulting film significantly retards corrosion by blocking the environmental fluids from reacting with flaws in the cladding surface of the fiber, thus improving the mechanical performance and reliability of the optical fiber. In addition, the thin film protects the fiber against incidental abrasions. Alternatively, the quasi metal oxide reagents are deposited into a protective polymer layer of the fiber or a filling compound of a fiber cable, rather than directly onto the cladding surface, whereby the same protective effect is achieved when the reagents diffuse through the polymer layer or filling compound to the core-cladding surface.

Corrosion-resistant optical fibers and waveguides

An insulated conductor (20) for use in a communication cable which includes a filling material (30) includes a copper conductor (25) and a composite insulation system (27) comprising two concentric layers of insulation. An inner foam layer (28) of the insulation comprises a cellular plastic material (28) which includes a stabilizer system. An outer layer (29) of the insulation is referred to as a skin and comprises a stabilized solid plastic material. The stabilizer system in each of the cellular and solid layers includes a bifunctional portion that functions as an antioxidant and as a metal deactivator and that has a relatively high resistance to extraction. The level of the bifunctional portion of the stabilizer in the cellular material is substantially greater than that in the skin inasmuch as it has been found that the level of the stabilizer cellular layer contiguous to the copper wire determines the oxidation performance level of the composite insulation.

Metallic transmission medium disposed in stabilized plastic insulation

Growing community of inventors

New Providence, NJ, United States of America

Maureen Gillen Chan