John Burnette Macchesney

Sol—Gel Processing of Optical Waveguides

This paper was written for inclusion in the program of the ‘International Symposium on Advanced Ceramics’ to be held under the auspice of the Tokyo Institute of Technology. It sketches the history of optical waveguide processing over the past two decades. Sol—gel is emphasized as the means for generating the next (fourth-) generation process. Examples are presented to demonstrate that fibers produced this way exhibit satisfactory optical and mechanical performance. Prospects for continued development to an eventual technology are discussed.