The optical fiber manufacturing process includes several steps: the preform production, the fiber draw and the performance tests. In this post, we will describe them, especially focusing on the preform fabrication. The preform is a solid glass rod that already has a core and a cladding, but their dimensions are far larger than in the final fiber. There are several techniques to produce the preform: 1) modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD), 2) outside vapor deposition (OVD), and 3) vapor axial deposition (VAD).
