Recoating is the process of restoring the primary coating to stripped
optical fiber
An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...
sections after
fusion splicing
Fusion splicing is the act of joining two optical fibers end-to-end. The goal is to fuse the two fibers together in such a way that light passing through the fibers is not scattered or reflected back by the splice, and so that the splice a ...
.
In the recoating process, the spliced fiber is restored to its original shape and strength, using a recoater. The stripped fiber section is recoated by filling a recoating resin, usually
acrylate
Acrylates (IUPAC: prop-2-enoates) are the salts, esters, and conjugate bases of acrylic acid. The acrylate ion is the anion . Often, acrylate refers to esters of acrylic acid, the most common member being methyl acrylate. These acrylates contain ...
into transparent moulds. The resin is then cured with
UV light. It is often desirable to perform a proof-test after recoating, to ensure that the splice is strong enough to survive handling, packaging and extended use.
Recoated splices can usually be coiled into a tight radius because the recoated fiber section is just as flexible as the original
polymer
A polymer () is a chemical substance, substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeat unit, repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their br ...
coating
A coating is a covering that is applied to the surface of an object, or substrate. The purpose of applying the coating may be decorative, functional, or both. Coatings may be applied as liquids, gases or solids e.g. powder coatings.
Paints ...
. Recoats are e.g. employed in the assembly of undersea optical fiber cables where high
fusion splice strength is already necessitated by stringent reliability requirements. Another reason optical fiber recoating is attractive in
submarine communications cabling is that the cross section of recoated fibers matches that of the original fiber.
The first commercial optical fiber recoaters were developed by the
Swedish firms
Nyfors Teknologi AB and
LM Ericsson in the late 1980s for the telecommunications industry.
See also
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Stripping (fiber)
Stripping is the act of removing the protective polymer coating around optical fiber in preparation for fusion splicing. The splicing process begins by preparing both fiber ends for fusion, which requires that all protective coating is removed ...
*
Optical communication
Optical communication, also known as optical telecommunication, is communication at a distance using light to carry information. It can be performed visually or by using electronic devices. The earliest basic forms of optical communication date ...
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Cleave (fiber)
A cleave in an optical fiber is a deliberate, controlled break, intended to create a perfectly flat end face perpendicular to the fiber's longitudinal axis. The process of cleaving an optical fiber forms one of the steps in the preparation for ...
*
Fiber-optic communication
Fiber-optic communication is a form of optical communication for transmitting information from one place to another by sending pulses of infrared or visible light through an optical fiber. The light is a form of carrier wave that is modul ...
References
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Fiber optics