Description

The SMARTSPLICER™ 1.5 is a more portable version of the industry-leading SMARTSPLICER™, an advanced laser fusion splicing and glass processing system designed for the production of high power and sensitive photonics components of various kinds. It features a powerful and clean laser heat source that enables completely contamination-free and localized glass melting and shaping with low maintenance requirements and no need for consumables such as process gas, filaments or electrodes.
It has several improved features including a viewing window to allow users to safely view the process as it is happening in addition to the existing capability of monitoring by camera. The new autofocus camera enables the SMARTSPLICER™ 1.5 to operate with less operator involvement providing crisp and clear images. There is also an optional fiber spool attachment on the top of the machine.
As with all SMARTSPLICER™ products, it includes precision beam shaping optics – based on the patent-pending Axicon Splicing™ technology – converts the CO2 laser beam into an annular shape that spans the geometry of the fiber or optical component under processing. This way optical power is distributed symmetrically and evenly to the defined processing area.
The diameter of the laser ring can be controlled by software along with other vital process parameters. This makes the SMARTSPLICER™ easy to configure and optimize for different fiber diameters and glass processing operations. These include splicing of single and multimode fibers as well as gradient index and photonic crystal fiber, fiber to end-cap splicing, tapering and the manufacturing of high power fiber laser components such as mode field adapters and pump combiners.