20 September 2002Speciality optical fibre manufacturer Fibercore Limited, Southampton, UK, is helping Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, to improve the security of the United States.
Fibercore has supplied a range of custom-specification erbium-doped and polarisation-maintaining fibres for the laboratories' work with optical wireless communications and remote sensing applications.
The company's fibres have also been a key part of the Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics Program, which has developed the first integrated adaptive optics (AO) and sodium-layer laser guide star (LGS) systems for use on large astronomical telescopes.
The company has also supplied fibre for the laboratories' National
Ignition Facility, a 192-beam experimental laser facility which accesses regimes of extreme pressures and temperature, and forms a central part of the USA's energy stockpile programme.
In the early 1980s, the company was amongst the first to market
commercial erbium doped singlemode fibres, and in 2001, it launched the CP1100 ytterbium-doped, cladding pump laser fibre, which has a quasi circular geometry. The development of this specialty fibre is one of the most significant innovations in active fibre devices, Fibercore Ltd claims.
Dr. Chris Emslie, the company's md, said, "We are delighted to be developing and supplying custom fibres to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, to assist in the research work it conducts. Our expertise in developing rare-earth doped fibres for the laser and sensing markets allows us to research, develop, and manufacture fibres to unique specifications for all aspects of the research community."