Reducing the mid‐infrared attenuation loss due to absorption of hydroxyl (OH) groups and scattering of metallic Pb species for lead‐germanate glass is essential to pave the way for their applications as low‐loss mid‐infrared fiber optics. In the first part of this study, we report the understanding of the factors that determine dehydration efficiency and metallic Pb formation during the lead‐germanate glassmelting process. Combining a dry O₂‐rich atmosphere containing ultra‐dry N₂ together with the use of chloride dehydration agent and nitrate oxidation agent compound was found to enable efficient dehydration effect and absence of metallic Pb scattering sources in the dehydrated glasses. This glassmelting procedure overcomes previous limitations on the preparation of similar kinds of heavy‐metal oxide glasses, where only pure O₂ atmosphere was used and/or use of fluoride dehydration agent deteriorated the glass thermal stability. This work provides guidance for developing other low‐loss mid‐infrared glasses/fibers containing multivalent heavy‐metal ions such as Pb, Bi, Te, Sb, etc

中文翻译：

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用于中红外光纤的低损耗锗酸铅玻璃的开发：I.玻璃制备的优化

减少锗酸铅玻璃由于吸收羟基（OH）和金属Pb种类而引起的中红外衰减损耗，对于为其作为低损耗中红外光纤的应用铺平道路至关重要。在本研究的第一部分中，我们报告了对确定铅锗酸盐玻璃熔化过程中的脱水效率和金属铅形成的因素的理解。结合含有超干N ₂的干燥O ₂富集气氛人们发现，与氯化物脱水剂和硝酸盐氧化剂一起使用可实现有效的脱水效果，并且在脱水玻璃中不存在金属Pb散射源。这种玻璃熔化程序克服了以前在制备类似种类的重金属氧化物玻璃时的局限性，后者仅使用纯O ₂气氛和/或使用氟化物脱水剂会降低玻璃的热稳定性。该工作为开发其他含多价重金属离子（如Pb，Bi，Te，Sb等）的低损耗中红外玻璃纤维提供了指导。