Effect of thermal treatment on Rayleigh scatteringin silica-based glasses

The effect of thermal treatment on Rayleigh scattering in silica-based glasses is investigated experimentally. Two types of sample glasses, such as ‘annealed samples’ and ‘reheated samples’, were prepared by the VAD method with different types of thermal treatment. The authors found that the Rayleigh scattering coefficient of the reheated samples was 5~10% greater than that of the annealed samples because heating up to 1800°C increases the disorder in the SiO4 glass network structure.