Bend-Insensitive Fibres

What is bend-insensitivity? There are two types of bend-insensitivity: Millimetre-range macrobend-insensitivity Macrobends are visible to the naked eye, such as fibre cabling which bends around corners, inside splicing closures and within connectivity devices. Macrobending is especially likely to occur within high-density networks, as space is limited to route and accommodate fibres within connectivity devices. Micrometre-rangemicrobend-insensitivity Microbends refer tomicroscopic local effects on a cable – for example, cablematerial squeezing the fibre. Such bends can occur due to the cable’s reduced diameter, or because the cable has been squeezed by external pressure – common over the long lifecycle of a cable. Microbends can also occur during temperature variations, which can inducematerial shrinkage, and is especially likely to occur within high-density cables, as fibres can touch due tomaterial shrinkage or other strain.While bend-insensitive fibres were initially developedwithmacrobend insensitivity in mind, they also outperformall other existing fibre types formicrobend-insensitivity. Fibre types Microbend loss Macrobend loss Fibre types Bend-insensitive fibres significantly reduce microbend and macrobend losses across the entire wavelength spectrum used by current and future PON.