AMS Technologies has introduced OZ Optics’ Optical Fibre Length Meter (OFLM). The OFLM quickly and accurately measures lengths of multimode, singlemode and polarisation maintaining fibres, including fibres for non-telecom wavelengths, such as visible wavelength singlemode fibres.
Optical fibres up to 500m long can be measured with 1mm resolution and less than 0.1 per cent measurement error. The device works by measuring the time for an optical signal to travel along and back through a fibre. The devices updates the readings every second to allows continuous monitoring of the fibre length. The readings are communicated to a logging computer via an USB interface.
The system is suitable for applications requiring precise and repeatable optical fibre length measurements, such as cable manufacturing and spooling, strain sensing, and fibre interferometry.