Method for producing glass fibers that laterally emit light, and glass fibers produced according to said method

US12338161B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Friedrich-Schiller-Universitat Jena · DE

Inventors

• Lothar Wondraczek · Erlangen, DE
• Jan Schröder · Weimar, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 9, 2020
• Grant date: Jun 24, 2025
• Expiry date: Oct 10, 2042

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G02B6/0229
• WIPO field: Other special machines
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing glass fibers that laterally emit light and to glass fibers produced according to said method. The problem of providing a method that relies on standard available glass components, thus making possible an economical production method that allows a glass fiber to be produced which emits laterally and, in an optically active manner, spectrally shifts, scatters and/or filters light coupled into the fiber when said light exits through the fiber cladding, is solved in that, first, glass tubes (7) and glass rods (5) of identical chemical composition and identical optical refractive index are selected, then first the glass rod (5) is coated completely or over parts of its outer periphery with a vitrifiable material mixture containing optically active substances, in the liquid phase, and the glass rod (5) coated in such a way with this coating (6) after said coating has been dried or consolidated is brought into the glass tube (7) and both are jointly drawn, under the application of heat, to form a glass fiber in a known way.