End termination

In standard light guides the fibers in the ferrules are glued together and to the ferrule before the end faces are ground and polished. Light guide end faces treated this way can withstand temperatures up to 200°C. Where operation in excess of 200°C is required or in case of harsh mechanical conditions, a hot fused technique is required, a unique end termination process in which no glue is used and the fiber ends are fused together in a stainless steel ferrule.
The benefits of hot-fused ends are:

  • High temperature resistance up to 350°C.
  • Application with high power light sources
  • Transmission increase of up to 15% compared to glued fiber ends due to a higher packing density.
glued
hot fused
Light guides with hot-fused ends are particularly suitable for the following applications:

  • Pyrometry
  • Approximation switches
  • Spark control

For glued light guides the end ferrules are made from alluminium, brass, stainless steel, nickel, silver or other materials to customer specification. For technical reasons only stainless steel ferrules are used for hot-fused components.

In order to effeciently launch or extract light from an optical fiber bundle, the end faces have to be cut, ground and polished at a right angle to the optical axis. Both the quality and the method of termination will greatly influence the light guide properties. We are here to define with you the required end termination of your light guides.