Niobium-doped silica titania glass and production method

摘要

This disclosure is directed to a silica-titania-niobia glass and to a method for making the glass. The composition of the silica-titania-niobia (SiO2TiO2Nb2O5) glass, determined as the oxides, is Nb2O5 in an amount in the range of 0.005 wt. % to 1.2 wt. %, TiO2 in an amount in the range of 5 wt. % to 10 wt. %, and the remainder of glass is SiO2. In the method, the STN glass precursor is consolidated into a glass by heating to a temperature of 1600° C. to 1700° C. in flowing helium for 6 hours to 10 hours. When this temperature is reached, the helium flow can be replaced by argon for the remainder of the time. Subsequently the glass is cooled to approximately 1050° C., and then from 1050° C. to 700° C. followed by turning off the furnace and cooling the glass to room temperature at the natural cooling rate of the furnace.