A chemically toughenable or toughened sheet-like glass article is provided. The article has a glass with a composition comprising Al.sub.2O.sub.3, SiO.sub.2, Li.sub.2O, and Na.sub.2O, wherein (Al.sub.2O.sub.3)−(Li.sub.2O+Na.sub.2O), in mol %, is less than 0; a thickness between 0.3 mm and 4 mm; a light transmittance of at least 0.001% to at most 60% at 450 nm, of at least 0.001% to at most 30% at 540 nm, and of at least 0.001% to at most 30% at 630 nm; and an IR transmittance of at least 10% to not more than 99% at any wavelength in a wavelength range from 900 nm to 1100 nm. The light and IR transmittances are determined for a thickness of the article of 1 mm.

Glass-based articles having sections of different thicknesses where a maximum central tension in a thinner section is less than that of a thicker section. The articles comprise an alkali metal oxide having a independent nonzero concentrations that vary along at least a portion of the thickness of each section. Consumer electronic products may comprise the glass-based articles having sections of different thicknesses.

An optical fiber containing alkali metal elements or the like in which Rayleigh scattering loss can be reduced is provided. An optical fiber includes a core composed of silica glass and a cladding which surrounds the core, has a refractive index lower than a refractive index of the core, and is composed of silica glass containing fluorine. The core contains a first group of dopants and a second group of dopants having a diffusion coefficient lower than a diffusion coefficient of the first group of dopants. The difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of residual stress in the optical fiber is 150 MPa or less.

A method for manufacturing an optical fiber preform includes: adding an alkali metal element or an alkaline earth metal element to an inner surface of a glass pipe made of silica-based glass; reducing a diameter of the glass pipe after the adding; etching an inner surface of a continuous section of the glass pipe in a longitudinal direction after the reducing; and collapsing the glass pipe after the etching. At least one of the adding, the reducing, the etching, and the collapsing includes performing a local etching on an inner surface of a section of the glass pipe that is shorter than the continuous section.

Methods of manufacturing a glass-based article include exposing a glass-based substrate to a molten salt bath including a first salt and a second salt. In aspects, the first salt includes a metal ion that has a larger ionic radii than an alkali metal of the glass-based substrate and a first anion, and the second salt dissolved in the molten salt bath includes the same metal ion as the first salt and a second anion different from the first anion. In aspects, the first salt is potassium nitrate, the second salt is potassium carbonate, and a concentration of the potassium carbonate remains at or below its solubility limit in the molten salt bath.

A method of producing flint glass using submerged combustion melting involves introducing a vitrifiable feed material into a glass melt contained within a submerged combustion melter. The vitrifiable feed material is formulated to provide the glass melt with a glass chemical composition suitable for producing flint glass articles. To that end, the glass melt comprises a total iron content expressed as Fe.sub.2O.sub.3 in an amount ranging from 0.04 wt % to 0.06 wt % and also has a redox ratio that ranges from 0.1 to 0.4, and the vitrifiable feed material further includes between 0.008 wt % and 0.016 wt % of selenium or between 0.1 wt % and 0.2 wt % of manganese oxide in order to achieve an appropriate content of selenium or manganese oxide in the glass melt.

A cover glass is provided that includes a silica based glass ceramic with a thickness between 0.4 mm and 0.85 mm. The glass ceramic has a transmittance of more than 80% from 380 nm to 780 nm and a stress attribute selected from: an overall compressive stress (CS) of at least 250 MPa and at most 1500 MPa, a compressive stress at a depth of 30 μm (CS30) from one of the two faces of at least 160 MPa and at most 525 MPa, a depth of the compression layer (DoCL) of at least 0.2 times the thickness and less than 0.5 times the thickness, and any combinations thereof. The glass ceramic has at least one silica based crystal phase having in a near-surface layer a unit cell volume of at least 1% by volume larger than that of a core where the crystal phase has minimum stresses.

One of embodiments relates to an optical fiber in which an alkali metal element is efficiently doped to its core to suppress transmission loss from increasing. A mean concentration or a concentration distribution of the alkali metal element is adjusted such that 0.48 or less is obtained as an weighted value obtained by weighting a distribution of field intensity of guided light at a wavelength of 1550 nm, with respect to a radial direction distribution of a ratio I.sub.D2/I.sub.ω3 of an intensity I.sub.D2 of Raman scattering light by a silica three-membered ring structure and an intensity I.sub.ω3 of Raman scattering light by a Si—O stretching vibration, in a cross-sectional region having a diameter of 20 μm.

Laminated articles and layered articles, for example, low alkali glass laminated articles and layered articles useful for, for example, electrochromic devices are described.

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an optical fiber preform for obtaining an optical fiber with low transmission loss. A core preform included in the optical fiber preform comprises three or more core portions, which are each produced by a rod-in-collapse method, and in which both their alkali metal element concentration and chlorine concentration are independently controlled. In two or more manufacturing steps of the manufacturing steps for each of the three or more core portions, an alkali metal element is added. As a result, the mean alkali metal element concentration in the whole core preform is controlled to 7 atomic ppm or more and 70 atomic ppm or less.