FIBERCORE: PUTTING CUSTOMERS FIRST

SOUTHAMPTON, UK: 25.01.09: Fibercore Limited, the World's leading developer and manufacturer of specialty optical fibers, and a UK subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc has launched the HB-C range of bowtie coupler fibers with characteristics specifically developed to enable the fabrication of high performance, fused-taper, polarization maintaining (PM) couplers, primarily for the fiber sensor sector and in particular, for the next generations of fiber optic gyroscopes. 2008 saw significant growth in the Fiber Optic Gyroscope market and an emerging trend for higher performance variants in the sub-1.0° per hour accuracy range.  The new product line will be showcased at Photonics West (24 - 29 January 2009) on Fibercore Limited's booth #6071.

The HB-C range has been developed in response to the demand for higher performance fiber sensors and utilises Fibercore's trademark HiBi 'bow-tie' structure.  All fiber components, such as PM couplers benefit from reduced excess loss and also from intrinsic spatial filtering when compared with alternative, planar-waveguide based solutions .The HB-C range are also far easier to use in a manufacturing environment than earlier PM coupler fiber designs as the bow-tie stress members remain visible from the side thereby enabling visual alignment of the fibers' birefringent axes. HB800C and HB1500C have been designed to be compatible with Fibercore's industry-standard HB800G and HB1500G gyro fibers and are available for immediate trials.

Dr Chris Emslie, Managing Director of Fibercore Limited, comments, “Our new HB-C range of products brings together over 20 years of experience working with bow-tie fibers. It delivers a solution that provides our customers with competitive advantage, straight out of the box. Yet again, Fibercore's consultative relationship with its clients has paid dividends as we have been able to use our three decades of experience in the industry to develop a solution that truly adds value.”