Rayleigh scattering reduction method for silica-based optical fiber

The effect of the thermal treatment of silica-based glasses and glass fiber s on their Rayleigh scattering is investigated experimentally. The Rayleigh scattering coefficients of bulk glasses are found to be increased 5-10% by heating them to 1800 degreesC because the density fluctuation is in propor tion to their fictive temperature. Based on these results, we propose a met hod for reducing the Rayleigh scattering losses of silica-based optical fib ers by drawing them slow ly at low temperatures. We used this method to obt ain a GeO2 doped silica core single-mode fiber with a minimum loss of 0.16 dB/km at 1.55 mum, As a result, we confirmed that the reduction in the fict ive temperature of silica-based glasses and glass fibers reduces their Rayl eigh scattering.