Preparation of halogen-doped silica is described. The preparation includes doping silica with high halogen concentration and sintering halogen-doped silica to a closed-pore state. The sintering includes a high pressure sintering treatment and a low pressure sintering treatment. The high pressure sintering treatment is conducted in the presence of a high partial pressure of a gas-phase halogen doping precursor and densifies a silica soot body to a partially consolidated state. The low pressure sintering treatment is conducted in the presence of a low partial pressure of gas-phase halogen doping precursor and transforms a partially consolidated silica body to a closed-pore state. The product halogen-doped silica glass exhibits little foaming when heated to form fibers in a draw process or core canes in a redraw process.

An optical fiber has a core region that is doped with one or more viscosity-reducing dopants in respective amounts that are configured, such that, in a Raman spectrum with a frequency shift of approximately 600 cm.sup.1, the fiber has a nanoscale structure having an integrated D2 line defect intensity of less than 0.025. Alternatively, the core region is doped with one or more viscosity-reducing dopants in respective amounts that are configured such that the fiber has a residual axial compressive stress with a stress magnitude of more than 20 MPa and a stress radial extent between 2 and 7 times the core radius. According to another aspect of the invention a majority of the optical propagation through the fiber is supported by an identified group of fiber regions comprising the core region and one or more adjacent cladding regions. The fiber regions are doped with one or more viscosity-reducing dopants in respective amounts and radial positions that are configured to achieve viscosity matching among the fiber regions in the identified group.

An optical fiber rod (30) according to the present invention includes a center region (35), an outer region (31) formed around the center region (35), and an intermediate region (33) formed between the center region (35) and the outer region (31), and satisfies nA>nB>nC where nA is the refractive index of a material A produced by polymerization of a monomer ma, nB is the refractive index of a material B produced by polymerization of a monomer mb, and nC is the refractive index of a material C produced by polymerization of a monomer mc. The center region (35) is made of a material produced by polymerization of a monomer mixture containing the monomer ma, the outer region (31) is made of a material produced by polymerization of a monomer mixture containing the monomer mc, and the intermediate region (33) is made of a material produced by polymerization of a monomer mixture containing the monomer mb. The refractive index decreases in the order: the center region (35)>the intermediate region (33)>the outer region (31).

An optical fiber with low attenuation and methods of making same are disclosed. The optical fiber has a core, an inner cladding surround the core, and an outer cladding surrounding the inner cladding. The outer cladding is chlorine-doped such that the relative refractive index varies as a function of radius. The radially varying relative refractive index profile of the outer cladding reduces excess stress in the core and inner cladding, which helps lower fiber attenuation while also reducing macrobend and microbend loss. A process of fabricating the optical fiber includes doping an overclad soot layer of a soot preform with chlorine and then removing a portion of the chlorine dopant from an outermost region of the overclad soot layer. The soot preform with the modified chlorine dopant profile is then sintered to form a glass preform, which can then be used for drawing the optical fiber.

An optical fiber with low attenuation and methods of making same are disclosed. The optical fiber has a core, an inner cladding surround the core, and an outer cladding surrounding the inner cladding. The outer cladding is chlorine-doped such that the relative refractive index varies as a function of radius. The radially varying relative refractive index profile of the outer cladding reduces excess stress in the core and inner cladding, which helps lower fiber attenuation while also reducing macrobend and microbend loss. A process of fabricating the optical fiber includes doping an overclad soot layer of a soot preform with chlorine and then removing a portion of the chlorine dopant from an outermost region of the overclad soot layer. The soot preform with the modified chlorine dopant profile is then sintered to form a glass preform, which can then be used for drawing the optical fiber.

An optical fiber has a core region that is doped with one or more viscosity-reducing dopants in respective amounts that are configured, such that, in a Raman spectrum with a frequency shift of approximately 600 cm.sup.1, the fiber has a nanoscale structure having an integrated D2 line defect intensity of less than 0.025. Alternatively, the core region is doped with one or more viscosity-reducing dopants in respective amounts that are configured such that the fiber has a residual axial compressive stress with a stress magnitude of more than 20 MPa and a stress radial extent between 2 and 7 times the core radius.

According to another aspect of the invention a majority of the optical propagation through the fiber is supported by an identified group of fiber regions comprising the core region and one or more adjacent cladding regions. The fiber regions are doped with one or more viscosity-reducing dopants in respective amounts and radial positions that are configured to achieve viscosity matching among the fiber regions in the identified group.

A multicore optical fiber that includes: a core that is formed of silica glass doped with at least fluorine, the core having a relative refractive index difference with respect to a refractive index of silica as a reference being 0.30% to 0.10%; and a clad that is formed of silica glass doped with at least fluorine. The clad includes a first clad surrounding an outer periphery of the core and a second clad provided outside the first clad. A relative refractive index difference between the first clad and the core is 0.8% or more. A refractive index of the second clad is higher than a refractive index of the first clad and lower than a refractive index of the core.

An optical fiber with low attenuation and methods of making same are disclosed. The optical fiber has a core, an inner cladding surround the core, and an outer cladding surrounding the inner cladding. The outer cladding is chlorine-doped such that the relative refractive index varies as a function of radius. The radially varying relative refractive index profile of the outer cladding reduces excess stress in the core and inner cladding, which helps lower fiber attenuation while also reducing macrobend and microbend loss. A process of fabricating the optical fiber includes doping an overclad soot layer of a soot preform with chlorine and then removing a portion of the chlorine dopant from an outermost region of the overclad soot layer. The soot preform with the modified chlorine dopant profile is then sintered to form a glass preform, which can then be used for drawing the optical fiber.

An optical fiber has a core region that is doped with one or more viscosity-reducing dopants in respective amounts that are configured, such that, in a Raman spectrum with a frequency shift of approximately 600 cm.sup.1, the fiber has a nanoscale structure having an integrated D2 line defect intensity of less than 0.025. Alternatively, the core region is doped with one or more viscosity-reducing dopants in respective amounts that are configured such that the fiber has a residual axial compressive stress with a stress magnitude of more than 20 MPa and a stress radial extent between 2 and 7 times the core radius. According to another aspect of the invention a majority of the optical propagation through the fiber is supported by an identified group of fiber regions comprising the core region and one or more adjacent cladding regions. The fiber regions are doped with one or more viscosity-reducing dopants in respective amounts and radial positions that are configured to achieve viscosity matching among the fiber regions in the identified group.

An optical fiber with large effective area, low bending loss and low attenuation. The optical fiber includes a core, an inner cladding region, and an outer cladding region. The core region includes a spatially uniform updopant to minimize low Rayleigh scattering and a relative refractive index and radius configured to provide large effective area. The inner cladding region features a large trench volume to minimize bending loss. The core may be doped with Cl and the inner cladding region may be doped with F.