WiredInUSA June 2016

INDEX

Astronomical fiber

Molex has developed a Polymicro Technologies™ optical bench to test and validate optical fibers for astronomy applications. The optical bench measures focal ratio degradation (FRD) in specific optical fiber samples to determine if the fibers are appropriate for astronomy applications. “Multimode optical fiber has revolutionized the way astronomers look at stars and other objects in space by enabling highly stable, remotely mounted, multi-object spectrographs,” said Teodor Tichindelean, global product manager for Polymicro Technologies, Molex. “Optical fibers allow the observation of hundreds of objects in the sky simultaneously by transporting light from a telescope to a spectrograph.” However, light loss in systems employing multimode optical fibers can be manifested as beam spreading, or FRD. Beam spreading produces resolution loss and inconsistent images in spectrographs.

To reduce light losses, instrument designers must quantify FRD and minimize its impact prior to developing key components. The new optical bench performs those measurements. Existing measurements for optical fiber include real-time geometry (1,000 measurements per second), online tensile strength (100,000 psi), and optical testing (attenuation and numerical aperture). The Polymicro Technologies optical bench adds the FRD measurement method for optical fiber astronomy applications to that list. Previously, astronomy equipment developers had to take their own FRD measurements but now, with the optical bench, Molex can measure and verify optical fiber samples. “Optical fibers that are pretested for FRD performance can reduce the time and cost of developing new spectrographs,” said Mr Tichindelean.

wiredInUSA - June 2016

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