by Dan Rocheleau | Sep 6, 2019 | INSTALLATION: Blog Articles
In any mated pair of fiber optic connectors, the cleanliness of both fiber endfaces plays a major role in the performance of the mated pair. Obviously and intuitively, anything that prevents light from passing freely from one fiber into the other (such as...
by Dan Rocheleau | Jun 21, 2018 | CLEAVE: Blog Articles
When I talk with FOC customers about MT ferrule cleaving in preparation for polishing, we discuss two basic options: “manual cleaving” and “automated cleaving”. Manual cleaving relies on a trained operator scoring the fiber with a fiber scribe, and then...
by Dan Rocheleau | Aug 10, 2017 | TEST: Blog Articles
In standard Singlemode cable assembly, the two wavelengths used for Insertion Loss testing are 1310nm and 1550nm. All Singlemode fibers work very similarly in either wavelength—that is, you don’t need to buy fiber based on wavelength, one fiber fits...
by Dan Rocheleau | Mar 20, 2017 | POLISH: Blog Articles
Of the two common ferrule shapes involved in APC polishing – conical and step – the step ferrule is by far the easiest in terms of controlling geometries. Step ferrules are more expensive than conical ferrules. However, from a purely process-control point of view,...
by Dan Rocheleau | Jan 16, 2017 | POLISH: Blog Articles
In regards to MT ferrule geometry measurements, Minus Coplanarity (or Minus-Side Coplanarity) is one way to describe how “flat” or “co-planar” an array of fibers is. To ensure minimum optical performance requirements of the telecom world, it is important to ensure...
by Dan Rocheleau | Nov 10, 2016 | TEST: Blog Articles
I believe every fiber optic manufacturing company should build its own test leads. Of course, these test leads must provide accurate, repeatable Insertion Loss (IL) test results. This article offers guidance to confidently build and use your own EF-Compliant “modally...
by Dan Rocheleau | Nov 7, 2016 | POLISH: Blog Articles
Frequently, my customers ask for guidance to develop a fiber optic polishing process. While there are many details to consider, the process comes down to 5 basic steps. Note that this article focuses on single-fiber (and not MT) PC ferrules. While much of my advice...
by Dan Rocheleau | Jul 8, 2016 | POLISH: Blog Articles
How can you adjust your APC polishing process to modify characteristics of the geometry and achieve consistent accuracy? APC polishing issues could derive from problems with mechanics (materials or equipment) or the polishing process itself. When developing a...
by Dan Rocheleau | Mar 2, 2016 | POLISH: Blog Articles
Understanding and controlling end-face geometry characteristics of PC ferrules is fairly simple and intuitive. A radius is……a radius. And if you want to increase the radius of a ferrule, you simply need to polish with less pressure, or use a harder backing pad...
by Dan Rocheleau | Aug 6, 2015 | POLISH: Blog Articles
To help ensure consistent polishing results, maintenance of all fiber optic polishing equipment is essential. The Preventive Maintenance program for polishing fixtures should include periodic ultrasonic cleaning. This is true for any fiber...
by Dan Rocheleau | Jul 2, 2015 | INTERCONNECT: Blog Articles
In terms of long-term reliability, the “weakest link” of a connectorized cable assembly is the area within the ferrule which contains the strip “transition point” (where the buffered fiber is stripped down to bare fiber) and the majority of the injected epoxy. In...
by Dan Rocheleau | May 28, 2015 | CABLE PREP: Blog Articles
The processes involved in Termination play a CRITICAL role in determining the long-term reliability of the product, and more importantly, errors made in the Termination processes often cannot be detected by subsequent production-line tests / measurements! Even...
