January 13, 2005 Albuquerque, NM, and Franklin, TN -- In collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratories (AFRL), 3SAE Technologies Inc. has released new, patented technology for optical fiber cleaving. Designed to directly address the growing demand for large-diameter fiber preparation tools, The RC-1000 Rotary Fiber Optic Cleaver can cleave optical fiber of any shape ranging from 125-micron up to 950-micron.
According to the company, the device consistently produces flat, clean, low-angle cleaves every time. The patented cleaver automatically distributes multiple precision scribe points around the circumference of the fiber, with programmable control of scribe location and depth of the scribe(s). Each scribe point provides a local stress riser to reinforce the correct glass fracture direction. A fiber shape-sensing feature automatically detects the outer diameter of the glass cladding and adjusts instantly for the optimal cleave parameters.
The RC-1000 Rotary LDF Cleaver unit delivers improved performance with the most unusual shapes, including elliptical, star, square, "D" shaped, octagonal, hexagonal, and many others. Each scribe point provides a local stress riser to reinforce the correct fracture direction. The results are very low-angle, flat-surfaced fiber cleaves ideal for large diameter fiber splicing and other applications within medical, military, aerospace and telecommunications markets.