CO₂ Glass Shaping

Fiber tapering with SMARTSPLICER by NYFORS

NYFORS developed a unique and innovative CO₂ laser-based glass processing system SMARTSPLICER™. Using Axicon Splicing™ technology, a powerful ring-shaped CO₂ beam with controllable size is delivered precisely to the splice point. This allows contamination-free and localized heating with low maintenance requirements. The device is capable of splicing identical and dissimilar objects, tapering, ball lensing, array splicing and other techniques.

Splicing of fibers and end caps is commonly done through arc or filament splicing. These processes have the drawback of often resulting in contaminations on the produced parts, while heating the object in an unreliable and unconfined way. In contrast, the CO₂ laser enables a clean working environment which results in contamination-free clean processes. The CO₂ ring can be precisely adjusted in power and diameter enabling a wide variety of processes with different glass types and sizes. SMARTSPLICER™ is capable of splicing fibers to identical and dissimilar fibers, end caps, including polarization-maintaining fibers.

Tapering, or locally stretching out of a fiber, is often used for mode matching or mode filtering in fibers, or for coupling of different fibers diameters. As with splicing a precise and controllable heating process is crucial tapers of the highest quality and homogeneity. The ring-shaped CO₂ laser beam is ideal for providing uniform heating around the fiber, while stable motors and precise translation stages can produce smooth, free-form tapers with minimal losses.

The CO₂ technology allows for a high degree of precision and control that can be applied to a variety of processes. With the SMARTSPLICER™, NYFORS enables a path to new optical components using CO₂ splicing technology.