Fibre assemblies with coated fibre ends to avoid disturbing reflections and metallizations for the hermetically sealed assembly of optical fibres in metal housings.
The fibre ends are equipped with AR coatings to avoid disruptive reflections (physically always 4% on the fibre/air boundary). All desired wavelengths, such as, for example, 532 nm, 808 nm, 980 nm, 1064 nm, 1310 nm, 1480 nm, and 1550 nm can be implemented.
The coatings are available as single AR coatings (anti-reflection for a single wavelength), dual AR coatings (anti-reflection for two wavelengths), or broadband AR coatings (anti-reflection for a wide wavelength range).
Coated fibre optical cables are used in power transmission, medical technology, and material processing.
In principle, all fibre types can be equipped with an AR coating, if all the materials used are suitable for use in a high-vacuum environment and do not outgas.
Metallized pigtails are available for the hermetically sealed assembly of optical fibres in metal housings. The fibres are coated with a nickel / gold layer and can therefore be directly soldered into metal housings and feedthroughs. Any quartz fibre can be metallized. Some of the typical layer thicknesses are as follows: <1 µm for the nickel layer and 0.5 – 1.0 µm for the gold layer on top. The metallization lengths are between 3 and 40 mm.
The gold layer can be applied with tight tolerances and sticks very tightly to the fibre. Coated and soldered 125-µm fibres withstand, for example, pulling forces of more than 10 N.
Applications are extremely multifaceted. A few examples include: