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日本板玻璃公司使用装载在1985年4月发射的《发现号》宇宙飞船上的实验装置,以氟化锌为原料成功地制造出氟化物玻璃系光导纤维。该纤维能在无中继的情况下传送约1万公里的光,与目前使用的石英玻璃光导纤维传送光的距离相比,是理论传送距离的100倍。该光导纤维的主要部分是由折射率高的芯部和折射率低的外包层部分构成。可是,在地球上氟化物系玻璃在制造过程中能形成密度不同的微结晶,由于有重力影响会引起热对流,使芯部和包层的结构遭损坏。如果在无重力影响的宇宙环境中进行制造实验,可以制造出几乎没有微结晶生成,结构也不发生变化的光导纤维。无重力环境的主要特征
Japan Plate Glass Corporation successfully fabricated fluoride glass optical fiber using zinc fluoride as a starting material using an experimental device loaded on the Discovery 7 spacecraft launched in April 1985. This fiber can transmit about 10,000 kilometers of light without relay, which is 100 times of the theoretical transmission distance compared with the distance that the currently used quartz glass optical fiber transmits light. The main part of the optical fiber is composed of a core portion having a high refractive index and an outer cladding portion having a low refractive index. However, on the earth, fluoride-based glass can form microcrystals with different densities during the manufacturing process, and the structure of the core and the cladding is damaged due to the thermal convection caused by gravity. If manufacturing experiments are conducted in a gravity-free cosmic environment, optical fibers with little or no microcrystal formation and no change in structure can be produced. The main features of gravity-free environment