Development of Cleanliness Specification for Expanded Beam Connectors Project, Phase 3
Section: Optoelectronics


Project Leaders

 


Doug Wilson, Fiber QA
Project Chair

Tom Mitcheltree, US Conec,
Project Co-Chair

Call-for-Participation Webinar

Presentation (June 6th, 2019) 
Recording (43 mins 42 seconds) 


Statement of Work and Project Statement


Background

Since 2002, iNEMI has completed substantial theoretical and experimental work on the development of inspection criteria for singlemode and multimode fiber optic connectors. The iNEMI research was used as background for the development of several international standards including IPC-8497-1, IEC 613003-35 and technical report IEC 62627-05-TR.

Expanded beam optical connectors use various techniques to form light into either a collimated or focused beam, eliminating the need for physical contact between mating fibers. Unlike traditional physical contact fiber interconnects, some expanded beam products are z-axis insensitive and significantly less susceptible to the effects of contamination, promising cost savings.

This project builds on the iNEMI Optoelectronics TIG’s work on fiber optic connectors and multimode expanded beam MT ferrules. The latter work was completed in phases 1 and 2 of the project.


Project Objectives 

To date, no formal inspection contamination criteria have been adopted by the industry for any expanded beam connector. This project is being organized to develop recommendations for visual inspection criteria for singlemode expanded beam connectors with different technologies based on experimental and modeling data.

This project plans to:
 

  • Investigate the impact of Arizona dust contamination and/or synthetic defects on optical performance (IL and RL) of expanded beam connector with singlemode fibers from various manufacturers, experimentally and theoretically.
  • Develop recommendations for visual inspection criteria for singlemode expanded beam connectors based on experimental and modeling data.


Previous Related Projects


For Additional Information

Steve Payne
steve.payne@inemi.org