Fiber-optical splices of the highest quality are carried out using special laboratory machines. Our partner, Furukawa Fitel, offers splicers for use in the laboratory. Splices produced with these devices have a particularly low attenuation, which is important for medical applications, high-power lasers, and fiber lasers alike.

In addition to their standard programs, these core-aligning devices have a number of functions that make it possible to splice a variety of different fibers. Seventy programs are available for different fiber types and combinations, and more are constantly being added.

In addition to the fully-automated programs, both semi-automatic and manual modes are available. This allows non-standard fibers to be connected. The splicers are easy to handle. They can be loaded without having to exchange the V-grooves.

With the help of an integrated rotary unit, fibers that are not rotation symmetric can be reproducibly spliced, such as in polarization-maintaining fibers (PMFs). Programs for PANDA, BOW TIE, TIGER, and those with an elliptical core have also been programmed.

Different types of devices are available:

• S183PM – for fibers up to 500 µm in diameter, PM and HighStrength
  Splicer with two electrodes
• S184PM – for large-core fibers up to 1200 µm in diameter
  Splicer with three electrodes – Ring of Fire^®
• S185PM - for fibers up to 150 µm outer diameter, PM and HighStrength
  Compact splicing device with battery and WIFI
• S185PM-ROF - for fibers up to 800 µm in diameter with and without PM
  Splicer with three electrodes - Ring of Fire^®
• S185HS - for fibers up to 150 µm outer diameter, HighStrength
  Low-cost, compact splicing device
• S185PMLDF – for fibers with cladding diameters up to 500 µm, PM and HighStrength fibers.
  New, compact splicer with battery and WiFi
• S185LDF – for fibers with cladding diameters up to 500 µm, compact
  Especially developed for the manufacturing of fiber lasers
• S185EDV - for optical fibers with complex core structures such as hollow core fibers or multicore fibers. The End View System allows precise alignment of these fibers as well

All FITEL splicers can be operated via PC. SmartFuse software, which has many different features, is required for this purpose. It can be used, for example, to export splicing images and splicing data. New programs can also be downloaded onto the splicer and existing programs modified using this software.

If an extra measuring unit is connected to the PC, the SmartFuse actively optimizes splicing losses or the extinction rate during the splicing process.

The Ring of Fire^®, which is integrated into the FITEL S184 and S185PM-ROF, produces plasma to connect two optical fibers using three electrodes. This technology was developed by 3SAE; it allows the splicing of large-core fibers with a diameter of up to 1.2 mm. As a comparison, the standard method only allows the splicing of 500 µm fibers. Thus, the proven and stable fusion technology is now also available for thicker fibers.