Non-Circular Core Silica Optical Fibers

26 Feb 2014

CeramOptec Industries, Inc., a worldwide leader in the manufacture of specialty optical fibers, bundles and assemblies, offers non-circular core silica optical fibers for use in applications including spectroscopy, laser delivery, material processing and astronomy.

These silica/silica, step index fibers are available with square, rectangle, octagon and hexagon cores. The cladding for all shapes can be round to be compatible with standard ferrules and connectors or the square and rectangle cores can have a uniform clad to maintain the shape. The fibers are available for use from the deep UV to NIR (190-2500nm) with NA’s from 0.12 to 0.37 and in with sizes from 35 to 1000 micron.

The Optran NCC fibers are highly multimode resulting in a homogeneous output beam. This “top hat” intensity profile offers advantages in diverse applications.

In astronomy a star is tracked over time with the spectrum being transmitted to a spectrometer. A noncircular core fiber offers a more stable means of transmission than that of a circular core fiber as the spatial power distribution is more constant Good image scrambling is characteristic of the square core fiber and together with its low focal ratio degradation (FRD) improves image processing making them ideal for astronomy applications.

When used with diode lasers which give a square-shaped output, the square core fibers offer greater coupling efficiencies and a very homogeneous power distribution on the output end. In laser applications such as surface pre-treatment, materials can be processed in a more uniform fashion than is possible with a circular beam due to less overlapping. The square output beam reduces the need for beam shaping optics. The square-core fiber with square cladding offers several advantages when used as part of a fiber bundle in applications such as spectroscopy. In these cases, the fiber bundle is packed together at one end to maximize the capture of the light, and arranged in a slit line at the other end to maximize illumination of the spectrometer slit.

Any of the Optran NCC fibers can be assembled into a bundle or jumper cable of any length and with any standard or custom fiber connector. Contact CeramOptec Industries for more information on specifications and applications for these innovative fibers.

For More Information Please Visit: www.ceramoptec.com