The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 04, 2007
Filed:
May. 14, 2004
Paige Higby, Holland, MA (US);
Michael Weisser, Sturbridge, MA (US);
Paige Higby, Holland, MA (US);
Michael Weisser, Sturbridge, MA (US);
Schott Corporation, Elmsford, NY (US);
Abstract
A graded-refractive-index optical fiber is fabricated by providing an elongated core rod of a first material including a concentration of high-refractive-index ions and a cladding tube of a second material including a lower concentration of the high-refractive-index ions present in the core rod material. The core rod is axially introduced into the cladding tube and the core rod and cladding tube are heated and vertically drawn in the furnace of a fiber drawing tower to cause the collapse of the cladding tube about the core rod and the radially outward diffusion of high-refractive-index ions into the cladding tube to yield an optical fiber exhibiting a radially graded refractive index that decreases with displacement from the rod axis. In various implementations, fused image-conducting fiber bundles are fabricated by bundling, heating and drawing a plurality of constituent-GRIN-optical-fiber pre-forms.