EP0466932A1
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EP
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Quartz glass doped with rare earth element and production thereof
Assignee: Furukawa Electric Co Ltd
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Filing: 1991-02-05
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2011-02-05
Abstract
Abstract A quartz glass doped with rare earth element, aluminium and further fluorine, and endowed with various characteristics such as practicable luminescent properties, high amplification gain, achievement of wider band, size reduction of elements, fusibility and connectivity of quartz glasses with each other, and so forth. This glass is not accompanied with crystallization inherent in this type of doped quartz glass in the course of its producton, so that it is transparent of course and contains no residual bubbles. Since the production process comprises a combination of a technique for forming a porous glass with a method of solution impregnation, it is possible to produce readily a quartz glass doped with both rare earth element and aluminum, having high purity and excellent transparency, and being useful as an active optical element.
Inventors
- 👤 Akira The Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd. Oyobe
- 👤 Kazunori The Furukawa Electr. Co. Ltd. Nakamura
- 👤 Nobuyuki The Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd. Kagi
- 👤 Yasumasa The Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd. Sasaki
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-08 08:49
CPC Classifications
C; C03; C03C; C03C13/00; C03C13/04; C03C13/045; C03B; C03B19/00; C03B19/14; C03B19/1415; C03B19/1438; C03B19/1453; C03B37/00; C03B37/01; C03B37/012; C03B37/014; C03B37/01413; C03B37/01433; C03B37/01446; C03B37/016; C03B37/018; C03B37/01807; C03B37/01838; C03B37/01853; C03C23/00; C03C23/0095; C03C3/00; C03C3/04; C03C3/06; C03C3/076; C03C3/095; C03C4/00; C03C4/12; C03B2201/00; C03B2201/06; C03B2201/08; C03B2201/12; C03B2201/30; C03B2201/31; C03B2201/34; C03B2201/36; C03C2201/00; C03C2201/06; C03C2201/08; C03C2201/12; C03C2201/30; C03C2201/31; C03C2201/34; C03C2201/3435; C03C2201/3476; C03C2201/36; C03C2203/00; C03C2203/50; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S501/00; Y10S501/90; Y10S65/00; Y10S65/15; Y10S65/16
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 16
Claim 1
Independent Claim
34 words
Rare earth element doped silica glass characterized in that said glass is prepared by doping Si0 2 type host glass which is co-doped with both aluminum and fluorine additionally with a rare earth element.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
34 words
Rare earth element doped silica glass characterized in that said glass is prepared by doping Si0 2 type host glass which is co-doped with both aluminum and fluorine additionally with a rare earth element.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
26 words
Rare earth element doped silica glass according to claim 1, wherein said host glass contains a refractive index raising substance and/or a softening temperature lowering substance.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
34 words
Rare earth element doped silica glass characterized in that it is prepared by doping Ge0 2 -Si0 2 host glass which is co-doped with both aluminum and fluorine additionally with a rare earth element.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
34 words
Rare earth element doped silica glass characterized in that it is prepared by doping Ge0 2 -Si0 2 host glass which is co-doped with both aluminum and fluorine additionally with a rare earth element.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
23 words
Rare earth element doped silica glass according to claims 1 to 3, wherein said host glass contains fluorine approximately by 0.1 to 1.5wt%.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
22 words
Rare earth element doped silica glass according to claim 3, wherein said host glass contains Ge0 2 approximately by less than 20wt%.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
30 words
Rare earth element doped silica glass according to claims 1 to 5, wherein the rare earth element to be used for additionally doping the host glass is erbium or neodymium.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
46 words
Rare earth element doped silica glass according to claims 1 to 6, wherein the host glass preferably contains a rare earth element to a concentration level of approximately less than 40,000ppm by weight and aluminum to a concentration level of approximately less than 50,000ppm by weight.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
23 words
Rare earth element doped silica glass according to claims 1 to 7, wherein it is used for either optical fibers or optical waveguides.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
132 words
A method for manufacturing rare earth element doped silica glass comprising steps of impregnating a porous glass preform with a rare earth element and aluminum by immersing the preform in a solution containing ions of a rare earth element and aluminum, drying said preform while causing the salts of the rare earth element and aluminum to deposit on the pores of the preform and, if necessary, oxidizing the deposited salts for stabilization and sintering the porous glass preform after the drying step to remove the pores from the preform, characterized in that said method further comprises a fluorine doping step after said drying step and before completion of consolidation of the preform in the sintering step where the porous glass preform is heated and doped with fluorine in a fluorine containing atmosphere.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
132 words
A method for manufacturing rare earth element doped silica glass comprising steps of impregnating a porous glass preform with a rare earth element and aluminum by immersing the preform in a solution containing ions of a rare earth element and aluminum, drying said preform while causing the salts of the rare earth element and aluminum to deposit on the pores of the preform and, if necessary, oxidizing the deposited salts for stabilization and sintering the porous glass preform after the drying step to remove the pores from the preform, characterized in that said method further comprises a fluorine doping step after said drying step and before completion of consolidation of the preform in the sintering step where the porous glass preform is heated and doped with fluorine in a fluorine containing atmosphere.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
36 words
A method for manufacturing rare earth element doped silica glass according to claim 9, wherein it further comprises a dehydrating step where said porous glass preform is dehydrated in a chlorine gas and oxygen containing atmosphere.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
39 words
A method for manufacturing rare earth element doped silica glass according to claim 9 or 10, wherein said fluorine doping step is conducted in a fluorine containing atmosphere at a temperature lower than the sublimation temperature of aluminum fluoride.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
41 words
A method for manufacturing rare earth element doped silica glass according to claim 9 or 19, wherein porous glass preforms are prepared by means of a vapor phase method, a sol-gel method, a powder molding method or a split cast method.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
53 words
A method for manufacturing rare earth element doped silica glass according to claim 9 or 19, wherein porous glass preforms have a composition that allows the pores to be wiped out of the preforms and make them solid at or below 1,587± 10` C which is the eutectic point of mullite and crystobalite.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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