Abstract: In known methods for producing a glass component, a void-containing intermediate product containing doped or non-doped SiO2 is inserted into a sheath tube composed of glass, which has a longitudinal axis and an inner bore, and is thermally treated therein. In order to subject the intermediate product to a thermal and/or reactive treatment that is reproducible and uniform in its effect from this starting point, it is proposed in one embodiment that into the sheath tube's inner bore a first gas-permeable gas diffuser is inserted which is displaceable along the sheath tube's longitudinal axis and is pressed against the intermediate product during the thermal treatment.

Abstract: A method for producing a component with portions of a rare earth metal-doped quartz glass, an intermediate product containing voids and consisting of a SiO2 raw material doped with rare earth metal is introduced into a sinter mold the interior of which is bordered by a carbonaceous mold wall, and is melted therein into the component by gas pressure sintering at a maximum temperature above 1500° C. A shield is arranged between the mold wall and the intermediate product. In order to indicate a modified gas pressure sintering method that ensures the production of rare earth metal-doped quartz glass with reproducible properties, a bulk material of amorphous SiO2 particles with a layer thickness of at least 2 mm is used as the shield, the softening temperature thereof being at least 20° C.

Abstract: In known methods for producing a glass component, a void-containing intermediate product containing doped or non-doped SiO2 is inserted into a sheath tube composed of glass, which has a longitudinal axis and an inner bore, and is thermally treated therein. In order to subject the intermediate product to a thermal and/or reactive treatment that is reproducible and uniform in its effect from this starting point, it is proposed in one embodiment that into the sheath tube's inner bore a first gas-permeable gas diffuser is inserted which is displaceable along the sheath tube's longitudinal axis and is pressed against the intermediate product during the thermal treatment.

Abstract: A method for producing rare earth metal-doped quartz glass includes the steps of (a) providing a blank of the rare earth metal-doped quartz glass, and (b) homogenizing the blank by softening the blank zone by zone in a heating zone and by twisting the softened zone along a rotation axis. Some rare earth metals, however, show a discoloration of the quartz glass, which hints at an unforeseeable and undesired change in the chemical composition or possibly at an inhomogeneous distribution of the dopants. To avoid this drawback and to provide a modified method which ensures the production of rare earth metal-doped quartz glass with reproducible properties, during homogenization according to method step (b), the blank is softened under the action of an oxidizingly acting or a neutral plasma.

Abstract: A quartz glass tube as a semi-finished product for an optical component that has an inner bore extending along a tube center axis for the acceptance of a core rod and a tube wall limited by an inner casing surface and an outer casing surface is already known; within said tube wall an inner region made of a first quartz glass and an outer region made of a second quartz glass with a different index of refraction surrounding the inner region contact one another at a contact surface which runs around the center axis. In order to provide a quartz glass on this basis that facilitates the production of optical components for special applications such as laser-activated optical components in wand or fiber form, the invention states that the contact surface has a non-round course in the radial cross-section and the inner casing surface has a circular course.

Abstract: A method for producing a component with portions of a rare earth metal-doped quartz glass, an intermediate product containing voids and consisting of a SiO2 raw material doped with rare earth metal is introduced into a sinter mold the interior of which is bordered by a carbonaceous mold wall, and is melted therein into the component by gas pressure sintering at a maximum temperature above 1500° C. A shield is arranged between the mold wall and the intermediate product. In order to indicate a modified gas pressure sintering method that ensures the production of rare earth metal-doped quartz glass with reproducible properties, a bulk material of amorphous SiO2 particles with a layer thickness of at least 2 mm is used as the shield, the softening temperature thereof being at least 20° C.

Abstract: The invention relates to a process for producing SiO2 granules by freezing and re-thawing an SiO2 suspension, wherein a separation of liquid and sediment composed of agglomerated SiO2 particles occurs in the course of thawing, the liquid removed is decanted and the residual moisture in the sediment is removed by a drying step with formation of the SiO2 granules. According to the invention, an auxiliary comprising alkali metal-free bases in the form of nitrogen hydrides is added to the suspension to set the pH greater than 7.

Abstract: A UV lamp including a filter material of doped quartz glass is provided that effects a transparency as high as possible for operating radiation in the ultraviolet spectral range above 210 nm together with low transparency in the wavelength range below about 190 nm. The filter material of doped quartz glass includes at least 99 wt. % of SiO2 and Al2O3, wherein the Al2O3 portion is in the range of 2 wt. % to 4 wt. The filter material has an edge wavelength at a wavelength below 190 nm and a spectral transmission of 80% mm?1 or higher at a wavelength of 210 nm.

Abstract: A method for producing rare earth metal-doped quartz glass includes the steps of (a) providing a blank of the rare earth metal-doped quartz glass, and (b) homogenizing the blank by softening the blank zone by zone in a heating zone and by twisting the softened zone along a rotation axis. Some rare earth metals, however, show a discoloration of the quartz glass, which hints at an unforeseeable and undesired change in the chemical composition or possibly at an inhomogeneous distribution of the dopants. To avoid this drawback and to provide a modified method which ensures the production of rare earth metal-doped quartz glass with reproducible properties, during homogenization according to method step (b), the blank is softened under the action of an oxidizingly acting or a neutral plasma.

Abstract: The aim of the invention is to improve a generally known method for producing quartz glass doped with fluorine, wherein SiO2 particles are formed in the presence of fluorine by means of a plasma deposition process, deposited in layers on an outer envelope of a cylindrical quartz glass substrate body rotating about its longitudinal axis, and vitrified to form a layer of quartz glass with a fluorine content of at least 1.5 wt. %, in such a way that a quartz glass semifinished product with a high fluorine content, characterised by a high basic transmission in the UV wavelength range, is obtained. To this end, the substrate body has at least one reservoir layer of quartz glass at least in the region of the outer envelope thereof, having a minimum hydroxyl group content of 200 wt. ppm and/or a minimum hydrogen content of 1×1017 molecules/cm3, and the substrate body is either fully or partially removed following the deposition of the quartz glass layer doped with fluorine.

Abstract: A UV lamp including a filter material of doped quartz glass is provided that effects a transparency as high as possible for operating radiation in the ultraviolet spectral range above 210 nm together with low transparency in the wavelength range below about 190 nm. The filter material of doped quartz glass includes at least 99 wt. % of SiO2 and Al2O3, wherein the Al2O3 portion is in the range of 2 wt. % to 4 wt. The filter material has an edge wavelength at a wavelength below 190 nm and a spectral transmission of 80% mm?1 or higher at a wavelength of 210 nm.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for producing a doped SiO2 slurry in which an SiO2 suspension is brought into interaction with at least one doping solution, wherein the SiO2 suspension and/or the doping solution act on one another in the form of an atomized spray, the average droplet diameter of which is in the range between 10 ?m and 100 ?m. The invention further relates to the use of an SiO2 slurry doped by the atomized spray method for the production of doped quartz glass, particularly for the production of laser-active quartz glass.

Abstract: The invention describes a method for the manufacture of quartz glass that comprises not only doping with rare earth elements and/or transition metals, but also fluorination of the quartz glass. The method described presently allows the diffusion of the dopants during fluorination to be prevented. Moreover, the invention relates to the quartz glass that can be obtained according to the method according to the invention and the use thereof as laser-active quartz glass, for generating light-guiding structures, and in optical applications.

Abstract: The invention relates to a plasma deposition process for producing an optical preform, which is characterized by a cladding glass layer having a non-round internal cross-section together with high fluorine doping and axially and radially specified dopant distribution, which in the simplest case is as uniform as possible. For this purpose, a two-stage method is proposed, wherein a substrate body having a non-round cross-section is first reshaped into a coated substrate body having a circular cross-section in that a POD filling layer made of quartz glass having the nominal fluorine concentration is deposited onto a present filling surface and rounded by grinding, and then in the second stage of the method a POD sheathing glass layer made of fluorine-doped quartz glass and having a circular-ring-shaped cross-section is deposited.

Abstract: The invention relates to a plasma deposition process for producing an optical preform, which is characterized by a cladding glass layer having a non-round internal cross-section together with high fluorine doping and axially and radially specified dopant distribution, which in the simplest case is as uniform as possible. For this purpose, a two-stage method is proposed, wherein a substrate body having a non-round cross-section is first reshaped into a coated substrate body having a circular cross-section in that a POD filling layer made of quartz glass having the nominal fluorine concentration is deposited onto a present filling surface and rounded by grinding, and then in the second stage of the method a POD sheathing glass layer made of fluorine-doped quartz glass and having a circular-ring-shaped cross-section is deposited.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for producing a doped SiO2 slurry in which an SiO2 suspension is brought into interaction with at least one doping solution, wherein the SiO2 suspension and/or the doping solution act on one another in the form of an atomised spray, the average droplet diameter of which is in the range between 10 ?m and 100 ?m. The invention further relates to the use of an SiO2 slurry doped by the atomised spray method for the production of doped quartz glass, particularly for the production of laser-active quartz glass.

Abstract: The invention relates to a process for producing SiO2 granules by freezing and re-thawing an SiO2 suspension, wherein a separation of liquid and sediment composed of agglomerated SiO2 particles occurs in the course of thawing, the liquid removed is decanted and the residual moisture in the sediment is removed by a drying step with formation of the SiO2 granules. According to the invention, an auxiliary comprising alkali metal-free bases in the form of nitrogen hydrides is added to the suspension to set the pH greater than 7.

Abstract: A quartz glass tube as a semi-finished product for an optical component that has an inner bore extending along a tube centre axis for the acceptance of a core rod and a tube wall limited by an inner casing surface and an outer casing surface is already known; within said tube wall an inner region made of a first quartz glass and an outer region made of a second quartz glass with a different index of refraction surrounding the inner region contact one another at a contact surface which runs around the centre axis. In order to provide a quartz glass on this basis that facilitates the production of optical components for special applications such as laser-activated optical components in wand or fibre form, the invention states that the contact surface has a non-round course in the radial cross-section and the inner casing surface has a circular course.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method allowing cost-effective production of doped quartz glass, particularly laser-active quartz glass, that is improved with regard to the homogeneity of the doping material distribution, in that a suspension is provided comprising SiO2 particles and an initial compound for at least one doping material in an aqueous fluid, the fluid being removed under formation of a doped intermediate product comprising particles of the doping material or particles of the precursor substance or the doping material, and the doped quartz glass is formed by sintering the doped intermediate product, wherein at least part of the particles of the doping material or the particles of the precursor substance of the same is generated in the suspension as a precipitate of a pH-value-controlled precipitation reaction of the initial compound.

Abstract: To improve a known method for making a quartz glass tube as a semifinished product for the manufacture of optical fibers, the tube comprising an inner fluorine-doped quartz glass layer and an outer quartz glass layer, so as to achieve inexpensive manufacture and improved dimensional stability of the quartz glass tube, it is suggested according to the invention that the quartz glass of the inner layer should be produced in a first plasma deposition process with formation of an inner layer having a wall thickness of at least 1.5 mm, with a fluorine content of at least 1.5% by wt. being set in the quartz glass, and that the quartz glass of the outer layer should be produced in a second plasma deposition process and deposited directly or indirectly on the inner layer with formation of a composite tube, and that the composite tube should be elongated into the quartz glass tube.