An optical fiber manufacturing method includes a process of passing a glass fiber through a fiber path before applying a resin. The glass fiber is drawn from a glass preform, the fiber path is formed through a cooling tube, and the cooling tube is housed in a casing and is cooled by a coolant. The process includes supplying a dry gas into a dry space formed between the casing and the cooling tube. The dry gas has a first dew point lower than the temperature of the cooling tube. The process includes measuring, by a dew point meter, a second dew point at one or both of an inlet and an outlet of the fiber path. The process includes controlling the temperature of the coolant in the cooling tube such that the temperature of the cooling tube is higher than the second dew point measured by the dew point meter.

In some embodiments, a method for processing an optical fiber includes: drawing an optical fiber through a draw furnace, conveying the optical fiber through a flame reheating device downstream from the draw furnace, wherein the flame reheating device comprises one or more burners each comprising: a body having a top surface and an opposing bottom surface, an opening within the body extending from the top surface through the body to the bottom surface, wherein the optical fiber passes through the opening, and one or more gas outlets within the body; and igniting a flammable gas provided by the one or more gas outlets to form a flame encircling the optical fiber passing through the opening, wherein the flame heats the optical fiber by at least 100 degrees Celsius at a heating rate exceeding 10,000 degrees Celsius/second.

A method of manufacturing an optical fiber, the method including drawing a bare optical fiber from an optical fiber preform along a draw pathway. The method further includes during the drawing step, moving a first fluid bearing from a first position to a second position, the first position being removed from the draw pathway and the second position being disposed in the draw pathway such that the movement of the first fluid bearing to the second position causes at least a first portion of the draw pathway to change direction.

A method for manufacturing an optical fiber includes: drawing an optical fiber from an optical fiber preform in a drawing furnace; and cooling the optical fiber in an annealing furnace. When the optical fiber enters the annealing furnace, a temperature difference between a temperature of the optical fiber and a fictive temperature of glass in a core of the optical fiber is 300° C. or less. The optical fiber is cooled for 0.01 seconds or more in the annealing furnace so that the temperature of the optical fiber becomes 1300° C. or more and 1800° C. or less.

A method of manufacturing an optical fiber, the method including drawing a bare optical fiber from an optical fiber preform along a draw pathway. The method further includes during the drawing step, moving a first fluid bearing from a first position to a second position, the first position being removed from the draw pathway and the second position being disposed in the draw pathway such that the movement of the first fluid bearing to the second position causes at least a first portion of the draw pathway to change direction.

Apparatuses and methods for processing an optical fiber preform are disclosed. According to one aspect, an apparatus may generally include a muffle defining an interior volume enclosed by at least one sidewall and a handle assembly for supporting the optical fiber preform in the muffle. The handle assembly may be removably coupled to the muffle and extend into the interior volume. At least one baffle may be positioned in the interior volume and define an upper portion of the interior volume and a lower portion of the interior volume. The at least one baffle may define at least one flow channel between the upper portion of the interior volume and the lower portion of the interior volume.

A method of heating an optical fiber, the method including flowing gas from a common gas channel into one or more gas outlets of a burner, the common gas channel encircling an aperture of the burner. The method further including igniting the gas to form a flame and heating the fiber with the flame as the fiber passes through the aperture. The one or more gas outlets opening into the aperture such that each gas outlet has a gas outlet bore terminating at an inward-facing wall of the burner that defines the aperture. And the gas outlet bore being oriented at an angle .sub.1 defined between the gas outlet bore and the inward-facing wall of the burner, downstream of the gas outlet bore, that is greater than or equal to 10 degrees and less than or equal to 70 degrees.

An optical fiber production method includes: drawing an optical fiber from an optical fiber preform; and cooling the optical fiber. When in the cooling process, the optical fiber is passed through a plurality of annealing furnaces and Equation (1) is held. A time constant of relaxation of a structure of glass forming a core in the optical fiber is (T.sub.n). A temperature of the optical fiber at a point in time when the optical fiber is delivered into an nth annealing furnace from an upstream side is T.sub.n. A fictive temperature of glass forming the core at the point in time when the optical fiber is delivered is T.sub.fn. A fictive temperature of glass forming the core after a lapse of time t from the point in time when the optical fiber is delivered is T.sub.f.
20 C.<T.sub.fT.sub.n=(T.sub.fnT.sub.n)exp(t/(T.sub.n))<100 C.(1)

An organic-inorganic composite, including: a discontinuous phase having a plurality of adjacent and similarly oriented fibers of an inorganic material; and a continuous organic phase having a thermoplastic polymer, such that the continuous organic phase surrounds the plurality of adjacent and similarly oriented fibers of the inorganic material, and the organic-inorganic composite is a plurality of adjacent and similarly oriented fibers of inorganic material contained within a similarly oriented host fiber of the thermoplastic polymer. Also disclosed are methods of making and using the composite.

Methods, apparatuses and systems of manufacturing an optical fiber are disclosed herein. The methods may include heating an optical preform in a draw furnace, drawing an optical fiber from the optical preform, cooling the optical fiber with a slow cooling device, and annealing the optical fiber by passing the optical fiber through an RF plasma heating apparatus.