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Calcium aluminate glasses as potential ultralow loss optical materials at 1.5 - 1.9micron.

01 January 1989

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The suggestions made in an earlier paper, that the calcium aluminate (CA) family of glasses should exhibit intrinsic optical losses at 1.55micron markedly lower than the 0.16 dB/km of SiO sub 2, is confirmed by scattering measurements. The total (i.e. Raleigh, Brillouin and Raman) scattering losses are found to be ~0.04 d/B at 1.55micron with a projected minimum total attenuation for pure silica-free samples of as low as 0.015d/B ~1.9micron. Measurements are also made of multiphonon edge absorption in the 4-6micron regime and a preliminary assessment given of the materials outlook for the preparation of ultra low loss CA-glass fibers.