Chessington South, UK. 6 May, 2014. Fujikura Europe, one of the world's leading manufacturers of fibre optic cables and equipment, has used 25 years of experience in the speciality splicing sector to enhance its technologies and products, including the LAZERMaster™ and ARCMaster® series, for use in the biomedical and research industries.
Fujikura’s advanced splicing technology includes high-end CO2 laser heating systems, to enable cleaner splicing with no contamination, no electrodes for low maintenance costs and little or no instability at all. Alongside the new products Fujikura will also be providing engineering and optimisation services in specialty splicing for fibre preparation applications. These include custom hardware or software design, process improvement consultation and advanced splicer training.
“Fujikura is a recognised brand for high-end Fiber Optic Components for diverse markets around the world, ranging from telecoms, automotive, datacomms and the manufacturing, medical, oil and gas industries. With a wealth of expertise, experience and established manufacturing global platform to meet technology demands in the research and biomedical industries, we see the addition of new products and services in biomedical and laser applications a huge advantage” said Neil Bessant, Fusion Splicer Divisional Manager at Fujikura Europe.
A typical CO2 laser has an output power fluctuation of +/- 5 per cent which produces inconsistent splicing results and may cause irregularity and ripple in a taper profile. Fujikura’s new products for biomedical industries have a power stability feature which allows a stable laser output enabling highly repeatable processes. With an integrated closed-loop feedback system and real-time measurement function, both splice loss and peak-to-peak taper ripple are also greatly reduced.
Growing commercial application of laser technology to medicine and the potential market for optical coherence tomography (OCT) to be used in cardiovascular disease diagnosis is enormous. In Japan alone, it is estimated that some 245,000 stent procedures (coronary angioplasties) are performed each year to treat cardiovascular disease. Of those, nearly 80% are believed to use an imaging technique. Launched in Japan, the imaging technique provides physicians with a better view of narrowed coronary arteries to diagnose and treat coronary artery disease. [Optics.org 2013]
Many types of optical fibre terminal processing are enabled by the use of Fujikura’s fusion splicing equipment, including stripping, cutting and splicing processing necessary for the manufacture of such medical applications.
“Fujikura is well positioned to support the biomedical industries with our leading photonic technologies, early-stage product development and high-volume manufacturing capabilities. Combined with our product and engineering services we are able to bring customers best-in-class technology and service,” finished Bessant.
Fujikura’s major products immediately available for the biomedical industries include:
• ARCMaster® series – Whether splicing similar fibre types or double clad Large Diameter Fibres (LDF) for high power lasers, the ARCMaster® series provides multiple solutions. With State of the ARC® technology, the ARCMaster® consists of a “Split V-Groove” fibre clamping system which accommodates optical fibre ranges from 60 to 1200 µm for cladding without changing v-grooves or fibre clamps. The “Plasma Zone” fibre positioning system incorporates multiple fibre and electrode positioning techniques to provide unprecedented versatility for splicing LDF, heat sensitive or small diameter fibres. The Fujikura PCS-100 (Polyimide Fibre Coating Stripper) offers splicing technology that uses mechanical stripping methods. Polyimide based optical fibres are widely used in the oil, gas and medical industries as superior heat and chemical resistance to conventional UV curable coating material.
• LAZERMaster™ series – This is a unique customised CO2 laser splicing and glass processing system that brings many advantages to the market such as a clean and stabilised CO2 laser heat source and advanced feedback control techniques. The LAZERMaster uses a Warm Tapering Imaging (WTI) monitoring system for precise control of heating power. The WTI brightness level is captured in real time during the tapering and the value is used to adjust the CO2 laser output power to a level appropriate for the decreasing mass of a fibre as it is tapered to a smaller diameter. The LAZERMaster also has specially designed onboard firmware enabling operations to be performed automatically, manually or remotely through a PC. It has large diameter fibre splicing capabilities up to 2.3mm and long tapering capabilities up to 150mm and beam size and shape can be customised to meet specific requirements to enable it to be used for fused glass component development and mass scale production.
Fujikura splicers can be used for dissimilar fibre splicing, ball lens, tapers, Thermal Expansion Core (TEC), combiners and Mode Field Adapters (MFA). With global research and manufacturing advantages, Fujikura can meet evolving customer requirements in highly technical markets, including medical applications and manufacturing. For more information on products and services, please visit www.fujikura.co.uk
LZM-100 LAZERMaster™ fundamental benefits to the market:
• Very clean heat source: No contamination or deposits on fibre surface
• Extremely stable, repeatable, and easy operation
• Virtually no CO2 laser maintenance results in significant operational cost savings compared to other heat sources
• An advanced, configurable system capable of producing adiabatic tapers, ball lens, combiners, MFA, TEC, glass shaping and splicing
• Excellent for dissimilar fibre splicing due to the absorption of the laser wavelength
About Fujikura
Established in 1885, Fujikura is one of the world's leading manufacturers of communication and electronics products. The company offers a diverse product range from its core business of electric wire and cables to fibre optic and related products. The Fujikura name has become synonymous with fibre optic Fusion Splicers and the company is the world's leading global supplier.
Contact:
Annabel Gibson
Marketing Manager
Fujikura Europe Ltd
+44 0208 8240 2071
agibson@fujikura.co.uk
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