Optical transmission element and method for manufacturing the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016270644-A1
Application number	US-201615168638-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 31, 2016
Priority date	Jul 22, 2014
Publication date	Sep 22, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

According to an embodiment, there is provided an optical transmission element comprising: a fiber including a core made of a first glass and a cladding made of a second glass and covering an outer periphery of the core; and a covering layer covering an outer periphery of the cladding and including a plurality of nonionic surfactant molecules wherein each of the nonionic surfactant molecules is hydrogen-bonded to the cladding.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An optical transmission element comprising:
a fiber including a core made of a first glass and a cladding made of a second glass and covering an outer periphery of the core; and a covering layer covering an outer periphery of the cladding and including a plurality of nonionic surfactant molecules wherein each of the nonionic surfactant molecules is hydrogen-bonded to the cladding.

2 . The optical transmission element according to claim 1 , wherein the nonionic surfactant molecule has a hydroxyl group.

3 . The optical transmission element according to claim 2 , wherein the nonionic surfactant molecule has two or more hydroxyl groups.

4 . The optical transmission element according to claim 2 , wherein the nonionic surfactant molecule has at least one of an ether bond and an ester bond in the molecule, and the total number of the hydroxyl group, ether bond, and ester bond is 2 or more.

5 . The optical transmission element according to claim 1 , wherein the nonionic surfactant molecule has a hydrocarbon chain having 8 or more carbon atoms.

6 . The optical transmission element according to claim 1 , wherein the fiber is free of lead.

7 . The optical transmission element according to claim 1 , further comprising a solid lubricant applied to an outer periphery of the covering layer.

8 . An image guide wherein a plurality of the optical transmission elements according to claim 1 are bundled.

9 . A light guide wherein a plurality of the optical transmission elements according to claim 1 are bundled.

10 . An endoscope comprising at least one of the image guide according to claim 8 and the light guide according to claim 9 .

11 . A method for manufacturing an optical transmission element, comprising:
applying a treatment liquid containing a nonionic surfactant and water to an outer periphery of a fiber including a core made of first glass and a cladding made of second glass and covering an outer periphery of the core, wherein a ratio of the nonionic surfactant in the treatment liquid is 0.01 to 20% by volume.

Assignees

• Olympus Corp

Inventors

• Miyata Akihito
• Ishikawa Yuki

Classifications

• C03C25/106

  Single coatings · CPC title

• G02B6/02395

  Glass optical fibre with a protective coating, e.g. two layer polymer coating deposited directly on a silica cladding surface during fibre manufacture (G02B6/02052, G02B6/02057, G02B6/024, G02B6/032, G02B6/105, G02B6/14 take precedence; coating on fibre gratings G02B6/02104; multilayer core or cladding G02B6/036; reinforcing splice joints G02B6/2558; optical cables, i.e. comprising protective structures external to the protective coating such as a jacket or plural coated optical fibres G02B6/44; coating of glass to obtain optical fibres C03C25/104) · CPC title

• G02B6/06

  the relative position of the fibres being the same at both ends, e.g. for transporting images · CPC title

• A61B1/07 Primary

  using light-conductive means, e.g. optical fibres · CPC title

• C03C25/26

  Macromolecular compounds or prepolymers · CPC title