LAB FACILITY

Manufacturing Capabilities:

• 600 square foot laboratory space with fiber optic draw tower, optical table, closed and open fume hoods for polymer processing.

• Full range of fiber production capability starting with preform fabrication through fiber drawing.

• Draw speeds from 1 mm/sec to 1 m/sec. Fiber diameters from 50 to 1500 microns with single draw. Sub-micron diameters possible with multiple draw process.

• Step index, multi-clad fiber production. Fibers of non-circular cross section, such as elliptical, can also be fabricated.

Characterization Capabilities:

Fiber characterization capability includes refractive index profile measurements using a reflection method with 3-axis translation stage. Standard cutback technique is used for attenuation measurements.

Equipment:

• A Marshall Furnace with processing temperatures up to 420 +/- 0.5 C.
• Beta diameter gauge capable of measurements +/- 0.5 microns.
• 9-position thermal array.
• Labview controlled feed and draw motors.
• 2 preform curing furnaces.

Safety Equipment:

A chemical fume hood, a chemical fire extinguisher, an eye wash station, easy access to a chemical shower.

Additional Equipment:

A Phoenix Beta Wet Grinder/Polisher controllable up to 500 RPM.

A Newport RS-4000 Optical Table.

Computer Equipment:

Hardware:

• 5 Pentium Class computers
• Zip 100/250, CD-RW, DVD

Software:

• MS Win NT/2000 w/ Office
• FIDAP CFD software
• GAMBIT Mesh/Grid Generator
• Tecplot v. 9
• Other Engineering and Mathematics software