Transmission fibers with wide selection of the silica core diameters (50 ... 1500 microns) can be cabled at various lengths - from tens of centimeters to several kilometers.
The large-core (0.6 ... 1.5 mm) fiber cables normally are up to 100 ... 200 m long. They are mainly used for safe high-power laser radiation transport in industrial, clinical and research facilities, as well as for intense non-coherent UV radiation transport - e.g. in the UV-curing equipment. Our standard cabled fibers are both-end terminated with polished co-axial SMA optical connectors, so optically connected multi-cable systems can significantly extend the delivery distance, if necessary. Besides high-power radiation transport, many other successful applications of large-core optical fiber cables may be mentioned, including flexible transmission of extremely weak radiation to photon counting devices used in astronomy and spectroscopy.
The cables with fibers of smaller core diameters (50 ... 400 microns) are well suited not only for radiation energy transmission, but also for optical communications at relatively short distances, e.g. in fiber-optic LAN's inside the buildings. The transmitted signal frequency bandwidth depends on the fiber core diameter and length. Values >20 MHz.km are typical for core diameters not exceeding 400 microns. Consequently, the optical cables can transmit Gigahertz signal bands over distances of about 10 m, typical for inter-PC connections in local networks. Easy coupling to the inexpensive LED-transmitters is an advantage of these optical cables if compared to the conventional single-mode optical cables.
Multi-fiber optical cables contain two or more individually shielded optical fibers packed within a common outer jacket - resin, PVC and/or stainless steel tube or monocoil. |
