Fiber optic physical contact connection technology has been used with multimode fiber in civilian aircraft for over 30 years with very good proven reliable performance.
The extensive use of singlemode fiber (SMF) in FTTx Telecom market rollouts speeds up the development of passive optical components which significantly decreases the cost, expands capability and increases the reliability level of singlemode components. SMF transmission seems mandatory for future applications even in mil-aero and other harsh environment applications due to increased data rate requirements and new sensors applications.
In harsh environment applications, is it realistic to use SMF with cores that are 30 times smaller in area compared to multimode fiber (MMF) when highly exposed to contamination?
The present paper presents a technology of beam expansion interconnection that mixes a physical contact (PC) with an expanded optical surface. The optical connector brings together benefits of both technologies resulting in a reliable connection requiring low maintenance for SMF fiber optic applications.
The study describes an optical design and packaging that is able to cope with drastic harsh environment requirements, and shows promising test results after rapid thermal change, and exposure to contamination such as water and oil, dust particles.
Special design and modeling efforts are presented, leading to a minimum number of optical interfaces. As a result, a reliable optical transmission is achieved with insertion losses below 1dB and return losses better than −50dB.