METHOD FOR REDUCING THE SURFACE ROUGHNESS OF TUBES, CAPILLARIES, AND HOLLOW GLASSES MADE OF FUSED SILICA OR GLASSES WITH A HIGH CONTENT OF FUSED SILICA, AND OPTICAL GLASSES

摘要

The invention relates to a particle-free method for significantly reducing the surface roughness of the inner surface of tubes, capillaries, hollow fibers, or cavities made of fused silica or glasses with a high content of fused silica and to a device for carrying out the method. The aim of the invention is to provide a particle-free method for significantly reducing the surface roughness of the inner surface of tubes, capillaries, hollow fibers, or cavities made of fused silica or glasses with a high content of fused silica, said method producing high-quality surfaces in the interior of the hollow fibers. This is achieved in that a method is carried out as follows: - microwaves are generated in a high-frequency microwave source (3) with an energy ranging from 400 W to 6000 W, - the microwaves are guided in a tapered hollow conductor (4), wherein the microwaves are guided from the hollow conductor (4) through the wall (12) of the tube, capillary, hollow fiber (1), or cavity (2), said wall being transparent to microwaves, and into the discharge zone (14) in the interior of the tube, capillary, hollow fiber (1), or cavity (2), and the interior is designed as a hollow chamber (13), - a process gas is introduced into the tube, capillary, hollow fiber (1), or cavity (2), which comprises a gas inlet opening (5) and a gas outlet opening (6), at a pressure of p = 1 bar, said process gas being introduced into the tube, capillary, hollow fiber (1), or cavity (2) through the gas inlet opening (6) such that the process gas has a tangential flow component (63), - the tube, capillary, hollow fiber (1), or cavity (2) is rotated (64), - a plasma (65) is generated in the tube, capillary, hollow fiber (1), or cavity (2) by igniting the process gas without using electrodes, and - gas is discharged axially in the tube, capillary, hollow fiber (1), or cavity (2) along the longitudinal axis -A-A- in a microwave-induced manner.