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High numerical apeture silica core optical fibres launched by Armadillo SIA

Armadillo SIA has launched the Optran Plus UV and Optran Plus WF (water-free) pure fused silica/silica core optical fibres with high numerical aperture (NA).

The fibres are created using a preform production process that uses plasma outside vapour deposition (POVD) and plasma chemical vapour deposition (PCVD) technology to produce material rods with a fused silica core and a fluorinated silica cladding.

As a result of both deposition processes, thin, fluorine-doped quartz layers are deposited on the surface of the silica core, enabling preforms with lengths of 300mm to 1,100mm.

Using this dual fabrication process, it is possible to achieve highly challenging geometries such as square, rectangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, octagonal, and even customised shapes.

The new fibres deliver exceptional spectral transmission from 190nm to 2,400nm with lower optical losses and offer extremely high coupling efficiency. With numerical apertures of 0.10 to 0.30 and core diameters available from 50 to 2,000µm, the new pure fused silica/silica core fibres are ideal for a broad range of applications, ranging from spectroscopy to sensing. 

According to Armadillo SIA’s business development manager, Mario Paredes, “We are one of very few facilities in the world that covers the entire manufacturing chain from the preform to the assembled fibre bundle and we are the only in-house facility that creates preforms using both POVD and manufacturer-specific PCVD processes. The preform establishes optical properties and the geometry of the fibre drawn from it. Our in-house production gives us full control over these parameters, giving us the unique capability to quickly adapt to our customers’ requirements.”

To learn more about the Optran Plus UV and Optran Plus WF High NA Pure Silica/Silica Core Fibers, download the data sheet here.

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