VacuumUltra-high vacuum
Optical fiber assemblies for vacuum and ultra-high vacuum
SEDI-ATI Fibres Optiques, with its unique know-how and in-depth expertise in complex and extreme environments, offers fiber optic-based assemblies for vacuum and ultra-high vacuum down to 10-11 mbar.
Resistance to vacuum
Our optical fiber assemblies provides a 10-11 mbar.l/s hermeticity order in vacuum and ultra-high vacuum conditions. They can therefore be used in enclosures where the vacuum is high (as in cryostats for quantum physics and spectrographs such as MOONS) or in measurement instruments in space, without any degradation in performance.
The problem
If there is a problem with the hermeticity of the assembly, the two environments that need to be separated will communicate. The particles or characteristics of one environment will conflict with those of the other, which will affect the quality of the data collected, but could also endanger operators if radioactive particles are released (for example).
It should also be noted that materials, even solid ones, degas when exposed to vacuum. The particles released deposit on optical surfaces. This contamination reduces optical transmission and interferes with accurate measurements.
OurExpertise
SEDI-ATI is able to offer you vacuum and ultra-high vacuum solutions guaranteeing leak rates of up to 10-11 mbar.l/s, thanks to its know-how in complex or extreme environments. The materials we use are adapted to your specific application and environmental constraints. The optical fiber is selected from a wide range of inorganic-coated fibers with very low outgassing properties such as acrylate, polyimide, aluminum, copper, etc, and the sealings are also adapted to the application (brazing, glass-soldering, etc.). To guarantee the hermeticity of your assembly, hermeticity tests are carried out in-house in our test chambers (down to 10-12 mbar.l/s) and a test report is issued.
All our ranges of hermetic feedthroughs, special fiber optic cables and patchcords, connectors, bundles, etc, are customizable to answer your constraints.
Case studies
CO2M: Measuring Carbon Dioxide levels in the atmosphere
SEDI-ATI took part in the project by supplying specific patchcords, fiber-optic bundles, and feedthroughs with our FCXtreme® connector, a compact FC connector for defense and aerospace applications.
MOONS: the Multi-Object Optical and NIR Spectrograph of the VLT, fed with a thousand optical fibers!
SEDI-ATI has delivered 64 slitlets of 16 optical fibers each, to form 2 identical slits of 512 fibers, aimed at transporting the light of celestial.
Optical fibers play a critical role inside the atomic clock PHARAO
SEDI-ATI optical fiber assemblies are mounted on the space atomic clock PHARAO on board the ISS to test Albert Einstein’s predictions on general relativity.
