A method produces a glass body that contains a reduced amount of OH groups
in the metallic-oxide-containing glass layer and that has a reduced
amount of transmission loss due to OH groups when the glass body is
transformed into an optical fiber. The production method produces an
optical glass body. An optical fiber contains the optical glass body in
at least one part of its region for guiding a lightwave. The production
method includes the following steps: (a) introducing into a glass pipe a
gas containing an organometallic compound and a glass-forming material;
(b) decomposing the organometallic compound into an organic constituent
and a metallic constituent; (c) heating and oxidizing the metallic
constituent so that produced glass particles containing a metallic oxide
are deposited on the inner surface of the glass pipe to form a
glass-particle-deposited layer; and (d) consolidating the deposited layer
to form a metallic-oxide-containing glass layer.