Effect of Chlorine on Rayleigh Scattering Reduction in Silica Glass

The Rayleigh-scattered light intensities of silica glasses containing chlorine with concentrations from 0 to 1.8 mol% were measured. The scattered intensity was found to change linearly to the fictive temperature but was independent of chlorine concentration within experimental error. The result indicates that chlorine dopant influences neither density nor concentration fluctuation. From the present result, how much the Rayleigh scattering can be reduced by heat treatment and doping of chlorine was estimated, and chlorine was found to be an effective dopant for achieving the reduction.