A manufacturing method for an optical fiber, includes: drawing, while heating in a heating furnace, a lower end of an optical fiber preform that is to be an optical fiber having a core consisting of silica glass containing a rare earth element compound. The heating furnace has a temperature profile in which a temperature of the heating furnace increases to a maximum temperature T.sub.max and then decreases from an upstream side of the heating furnace toward a downstream side of the heating furnace. The temperature profile has a changing point at which the temperature decreases more steeply on the downstream side from a position where the maximum temperature T.sub.max is reached. At the maximum temperature, a temperature of the silica glass is higher than or equal to a glass transition temperature and the silica glass is in a single phase.

A manufacturing method for an optical fiber, includes: drawing, while heating in a heating furnace, a lower end of an optical fiber preform that is to be an optical fiber having a core consisting of silica glass containing a rare earth element compound. The heating furnace has a temperature profile in which a temperature of the heating furnace increases to a maximum temperature T.sub.max and then decreases from an upstream side of the heating furnace toward a downstream side of the heating furnace. The temperature profile has a changing point at which the temperature decreases more steeply on the downstream side from a position where the maximum temperature T.sub.max is reached. At the maximum temperature, a temperature of the silica glass is higher than or equal to a glass transition temperature and the silica glass is in a single phase.

A rare earth-doped double-clad optical fiber includes a rare earth ion-doped fiber core, an inner cladding layer, and an outer cladding layer. A cross section of the inner cladding layer is a non-circular plane including at least two arcuate notches. According to the provided optical fiber, optical processing can be performed on a preform without changing a preform preparation process and a drawing process. The inner cladding is designed to have a non-circular planar structure having a cross section with at least two arcuate notches. While maintaining the same light absorption efficiency of pump light within the cladding layer, a preform polishing process is simplified, a risk of cracking the preform during polishing of multiple surfaces and a risk of contamination of the preform caused by impurities are reduced, wire drawing control precision is better, and comprehensive performance of the optical fiber is improved.

A rare earth-doped double-clad optical fiber includes a rare earth ion-doped fiber core, an inner cladding layer, and an outer cladding layer. A cross section of the inner cladding layer is a non-circular plane including at least two arcuate notches. According to the provided optical fiber, optical processing can be performed on a preform without changing a preform preparation process and a drawing process. The inner cladding is designed to have a non-circular planar structure having a cross section with at least two arcuate notches. While maintaining the same light absorption efficiency of pump light within the cladding layer, a preform polishing process is simplified, a risk of cracking the preform during polishing of multiple surfaces and a risk of contamination of the preform caused by impurities are reduced, wire drawing control precision is better, and comprehensive performance of the optical fiber is improved.