A system for controlling an ambient microgravity environment of a system for drawing optical fiber including a filter arranged to cleanse an environment from contaminants, a molecular sieve arranged in a series of at least one of meshes and baffles to dehumidify the environment, at least one of a pump and a fan to draw an environmental gas through the filter, through the molecular sieve and back in to an ambient environment and a housing in which the filter, molecular sieve and at least one of pump and fan reside.

A system for controlling an ambient microgravity environment of a system for drawing optical fiber including a filter arranged to cleanse an environment from contaminants, a molecular sieve arranged in a series of at least one of meshes and baffles to dehumidify the environment, at least one of a pump and a fan to draw an environmental gas through the filter, through the molecular sieve and back in to an ambient environment and a housing in which the filter, molecular sieve and at least one of pump and fan reside.

An optical fiber draw system and method of coating an optical fiber. The system includes a furnace for heating an optical fiber preform, a draw assembly for drawing the optical fiber at a draw speed greater than 50 meters per second, a first coating applicator for applying a first coating onto the fiber, and a first curing assembly comprising a first plurality of light sources comprising light-emitting diodes for partially curing the first coating. The optical fiber draw system also includes a second coating applicator for applying a second coating onto the fiber on top of the first coating, and a second curing system comprising a second plurality of light sources for curing the second coating, wherein the first coating is further cured in the range of 15-50 percent after leaving the first curing assembly.

An optical fiber draw system and method of coating an optical fiber. The system includes a furnace for heating an optical fiber preform, a draw assembly for drawing the optical fiber at a draw speed greater than 50 meters per second, a first coating applicator for applying a first coating onto the fiber, and a first curing assembly comprising a first plurality of light sources comprising light-emitting diodes for partially curing the first coating. The optical fiber draw system also includes a second coating applicator for applying a second coating onto the fiber on top of the first coating, and a second curing system comprising a second plurality of light sources for curing the second coating, wherein the first coating is further cured in the range of 15-50 percent after leaving the first curing assembly.

The invention relates to a method and device for fiber optic temperature measurement. The invention also relates to a multimode quartz glass fiber with nanocomposite (NK) containing a polymer and quantum dots (QDs) and its manufacture. These are based on temperature-dependent emission of quantum dots on the surface of optical fibers.

The present invention discloses a glass with high refractive index for fiber optic imaging elements with medium-expansion and fabrication method therefor, the glass comprising the following components in percentage by weight: SiO.sub.2 5-9%, Al.sub.2O.sub.3 0-1%, B.sub.2O.sub.3 23-28%, CaO 0-3%, BaO 6-12%, La.sub.2O.sub.3 30-34%, Nb.sub.2O.sub.5 4-8%, Ta.sub.2O.sub.5 0-1%, Y.sub.2O.sub.3 0-1%, ZnO 4-9%, TiO.sub.2 4-8%, ZrO.sub.2 4-6%, SnO.sub.2 0-1%. The present invention further provides a fabrication method for the glass with a high refractive index, comprising: putting raw materials quartz sand, aluminum hydroxide, boric acid or boric anhydride, calcium carbonate, barium carbonate or barium nitrate, lanthanum oxide, niobium oxide, tantalum oxide, yttrium oxide, zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, zirconium oxide and stannic oxide, etc. into a platinum crucible according to the requirement of dosing, melting at a high temperature, cooling and fining, leaking and casting to form a glass rod, and then annealing, cooling and chilling the molded glass rod.

A preform material including a starter tip to facilitate an initial fiber draw from the preform within a furnace, wherein the tip comprises a vacuum-sealed tip to receive a plastic grip which attached to an end of a preform.

A preform material including a starter tip to facilitate an initial fiber draw from the preform within a furnace, wherein the tip comprises a vacuum-sealed tip to receive a plastic grip which attached to an end of a preform.

Bromine doping of silica glass is demonstrated. Bromine doping can be achieved with SiBr.sub.4 as a precursor. Bromine doping can occur during heating, consolidation or sintering of a porous silica glass body. Doping concentrations of bromine increase with increasing pressure of the doping precursor and can be modeled with a power law equation in which doping concentration is proportional to the square root of the pressure of the doping precursor. Bromine is an updopant in silica and the relative refractive index of silica increases approximately linearly with doping concentration. Bromine can be used as a dopant for optical fibers and can be incorporated in the core and/or cladding regions. Core doping concentrations of bromine are sufficient to permit use of undoped silica as an inner cladding material in fibers having a trench in the refractive index profile. Co-doping of silica glass with bromine and chlorine is also demonstrated.

Described herein are coated optical fibers including an optical fiber portion, wherein the optical fiber portion includes a glass core and cladding section that is configured to possesses certain mode-field diameters and effective areas, and a coating portion including a primary and secondary coating, wherein the primary coating is the cured product of a composition that possesses specified liquid glass transition temperatures, such as below 82 C., and/or a viscosity ratios, such as between 25 C. and 85 C., of less than 13.9. Also described are radiation curable coating compositions possessing reduced thermal sensitivity, methods of coating such radiation curable coating compositions to form coated optical fibers, and optical fiber cables comprising the coated optical fibers and/or radiation curable coating compositions elsewhere described.