February 21, 2008, Peachtree City, GA--According to a story from Business Wire,
Furukawa America will introduce its new FITEL series of optical fiber splicers featuring three-phase plasma technology at OFC/NFOEC next week in San Diego, CA. Jointly developed by The Furukawa Electric Company and 3SAE Technologies, the FITEL S184 is the first splicer ever to use three-phase plasma technology utilizing three electrodes, for improved splicing quality.
A two-electrode system has served the bulk of fusion splicing applications for nearly 30 years. A filament system emerged about 17 years ago for highly temperature-controlled, specialty-fiber splicing. Three-phase plasma technology places a third electrode in a "T" configuration. This additional electrode, combined with an advanced arc discharging unit for independent modulation, produces a "ring of fire" arc zone. The useable region of the "wide-area plasma field" is up to 100 times larger than a two-electrode system, and it provides consistent heating throughout the entire zone.
For the market, this new technology means the ability to splice larger diameter fiber with extremely low insertion loss, use a thermally expanded core process for dissimilar mode-field diameter fibers, and achieve an extremely stable, reliable, and controllable heat zone every time.
Three-phase plasma technology also produces temperatures stable enough to perform a "flame polish" post splice to increase the tensile strength of the splice. The flame polish removes imperfections in the silica created during the splice itself. 3SAE has three patents pending for the three-phase plasma technology module used within the FITEL S184 splicer.
For more information, visit www.furukawaamerica.com.
