INO today announced its ability to manufacture aluminum coated optical fibers, which enhances the tensile strength of the fibers and enables operation at extremely high temperatures. In harsh environments, damage to these fibers is sharply reduced when compared to conventional coated fibers. Aluminum coated fibers also prevent any outgasing which can be hazardous when using acrylate coated fibers in clean environments, explain company representatives.
According to INO, reliability of high power transmission in optical components is vastly improved when using aluminum coated fibers. In applications such as Raman amplification requiring optical powers superior to 1 W, the acrylate coating of fibers tends to deteriorate and eventually break rendering the optical components inoperable.
The aluminum coating can be made on INO's rare-earth-doped fibers or any other INO specialty fiber. The thickness of the aluminum coating is typically around 22 microns for cladding diameters of 125 microns. Fusion splicing aluminum coated fibers can be made easy by using over-the-counter chemical agents in order to facilitate the removal of the aluminum coating.
For more information about INO (Sainte-Foy, Quebec), visit the company's Web site at www.ino.ca.