Abstract

A series of optical micrographs showing the front region of fiber fuse damage were obtained to reveal the periodic void formation process. They were collected from a number of samples and were sorted in order of increasing distance between the top of the first large void and the top of the first regular void. The micrographs clearly show that the first large void sheds its tail, which shrinks to form a regular void. This mechanism leads to the formation of bullet-shaped regular voids as the result of the balance between the internal pressure of the optical discharge and the increasing viscosity of the surrounding glass that occurs during pinching off.

© 2005 Optical Society of America