UV resistant optical fiber Fiberguide Industries

Long life, deep UV transmission is made possible with Fiberguide¡¯s solarization resistant optical fibers, wherein the fiber core and clad are hydrogen doped at very high temperatures as the fiber exits the draw furnace and then hermetically sealed with an aluminum buffer/jacket during the fiber draw process. This break-through, patented in-line process allow the use of fiber with a wide variety of UV laser sources, making Solarguide¢â 193 the fiber best suited for deep UV (¡Â 300nm) applications. Irradiation of standard silica fibers with UV photons below 260nm generates defects in the standard silica
structure, so-called ¡°solarization¡±. The solarization is the reason for the significant decrease in standard fiber transmission in UV wavelengths over time making fiber eventually useless in that application. When present in the silica core, hydrogen combines with the defects generated and neutralizes them, preventing the UV photons from being absorbed and thereby lost. Although the effect of hydrogen in lowering the fiber solarization rates in silica is widely known, Solarguide¢â 193 is the only fiber in the industry that has its own
hydrogen supply which has been sealed in with a hermetic shroud (aluminum buffer) around the fiber, thereby making it available for keeping the fiber solarization resistant for significantly longer periods.

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