A method of producing bi-modal particles includes the steps of igniting a first precursor gas using a primary burner thereby producing a first plurality of particles of a first size, fluidly transporting the first plurality of particles down a particle tube, igniting a second precursor gas using a secondary burner thereby producing a second plurality of particles of a second size, flowing the second plurality of particles into the first plurality of particles, and capturing the first and second plurality of particles.

An optical glass is provided which does not contain components negatively affecting the environment as environmental loads, and is less colored while having a refractive index maintained moderately high. The optical glass has a composition including, in % by mass, 30% or more and 47% or less of SiO.sub.2, 0% or more and 10% or less of B.sub.2O.sub.3, 3% or more and 12% or less of Na.sub.2O, 0% or more and 5% or less of Li.sub.2O, 0% or more and 3.8% or less of CaO, 28% or more and 43% or less of BaO, 3% or more and 16% or less of ZnO, 0% or more and 8% or less of ZrO.sub.2, 0% or more and 15% or less of La.sub.2O.sub.3, where Sb.sub.2O.sub.3 is excluded from the composition, wherein the optical glass does not contain any of PbO, As.sub.2O.sub.3, and K.sub.2O.

An optical glass is provided which does not contain components negatively affecting the environment as environmental loads, and is less colored while having a refractive index maintained moderately high. The optical glass has a composition including, in % by mass, 30% or more and 47% or less of SiO.sub.2, 0% or more and 10% or less of B.sub.2O.sub.3, 3% or more and 12% or less of Na.sub.2O, 0% or more and 5% or less of Li.sub.2O, 0% or more and 3.8% or less of CaO, 28% or more and 43% or less of BaO, 3% or more and 16% or less of ZnO, 0% or more and 8% or less of ZrO.sub.2, 0% or more and 15% or less of La.sub.2O.sub.3, where Sb.sub.2O.sub.3 is excluded from the composition, wherein the optical glass does not contain any of PbO, As.sub.2O.sub.3, and K.sub.2O.

Laser waveguides, methods and systems for forming a laser waveguide are provided. The waveguide includes an inner cladding layer surrounding a central axis and a glass core surrounding and located outside of the inner cladding layer. The glass core includes a laser-active material. The waveguide includes an outer cladding layer surrounding and located outside of the glass core. The inner cladding, outer cladding and/or core may surround a hollow central channel or bore and may be annular in shape.

A glass substrate for a high-frequency device, which contains SiO.sub.2 as a main component, the glass substrate having a total content of alkali metal oxides in the range of 0.001-5% in terms of mole percent on the basis of oxides, the alkali metal oxides having a molar ratio represented by Na.sub.2O/(Na.sub.2O+K.sub.2O) in the range of 0.01-0.99, and the glass substrate having a total content of alkaline earth metal oxides in the range of 0.1-13% in terms of mole percent on the basis of oxides, wherein at least one main surface of the glass substrate has a surface roughness of 1.5 nm or less in terms of arithmetic average roughness Ra, and the glass substrate has a dielectric dissipation factor at 35 GHz of 0.007 or less.

A system for drawing optical fiber in microgravity including a sealed housing to prevent infiltration of at least humidity and filled with a dry environment, a preform holder located within the sealed housing to hold preform material, a furnace located within the sealed housing to receive the preform material from the preform holder and to heat the preform material from which the optical fiber is pulled, a feed system to move the preform material from the preform holder to the furnace, a drawing mechanism located within the sealed housing to pull the optical fiber from the preform material within the furnace, a diameter monitor located within the sealed housing to measure a diameter of the optical fiber and a fiber collection mechanism located. within the sealed housing to gather and store the optical fiber.

Provided is a fluorine-containing synthetic silica glass powder which contains a sufficient amount of fluorine, and in which a reduction in the fluorine concentration caused by dissociation of fluorine from silica can be inhibited. Problems are solved by a fluorine-containing silica glass powder which contains particles having a particle size of more than 150 m but 300 m or less in an amount of 25% by weight or more as a whole. Also provided as a method of producing the glass powder is, for example, a method of producing a fluorine-containing silica glass powder, which method includes: prefiring a silicon oxide at a temperature of lower than 1,000 C. in the presence of SiF.sub.4 to prepare a fluorine-containing silica; and subsequently firing the fluorine-containing silica at a temperature of 1,000 C. or higher but lower than 1,400 C. to produce a silica glass powder.

An optical element is provided. The optical element may comprise a material, the material being a matrix and a set of particles included in the matrix, the material having a molar fraction of SiO.sub.2 higher than or equal to 65 percent, each particle having a dimension smaller than or equal to 80 nanometers.

An optical fiber includes an outer diameter less than 220 m, a glass fiber that includes a glass core and a glass cladding, a primary coating, and a secondary coating. The glass cladding surrounds and is in direct contact with the glass core. The primary coating surrounds and is in direct contact with the glass fiber. The primary coating can have a Young's modulus less than 0.5 MPa and a thickness less than 30.0 m. The secondary coating surrounds and is in direct contact with the primary coating. The secondary coating can have a thickness less than 27.5 m. A pullout force of the optical fiber can be less than a predetermined threshold when in an as-drawn state. The pullout force may increase by less than a factor of 2.0 upon aging the primary and secondary coatings on the glass fiber for at least 60 days.

A method of forming an optical fiber, including: exposing a soot core preform to a dopant gas at a pressure of from 1.5 atm to 40 atm, the soot core preform comprising silica, the dopant gas comprising a first halogen doping precursor and a second halogen doping precursor, the first halogen doping precursor doping the soot core preform with a first halogen dopant and the second halogen precursor doping the soot core preform with a second halogen dopant; and sintering the soot core preform to form a halogen-doped closed-pore body, the halogen-doped closed-pore body having a combined concentration of the first halogen dopant and the second halogen dopant of at least 2.0 wt %.