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First Commerical-grade Optic Fiber fabricated in Space.

  • Erin Lear Loughan
  • Mar 31
  • 2 min read

Updated: Apr 1



Special glass rods created at the University of Adelaide have been transformed into over eight kilometers of optical fiber aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

“To maximize the potential of a ZBLAN fiber as the most transparent material that can be produced, two key challenges must be addressed. Firstly, gravity causes ZBLAN to crystallize during the drawing process, and secondly, the glass's purity must be increased by a factor of 1000 to achieve its full potential,” stated Professor Ebendorff-Heidepriem.

Flawless Photonics developed a fiber drawing module capable of operating in microgravity to tackle the first challenge, while Professor Ebendorff-Heidepriem and her team are focused on producing high-purity special ZBLAN glass rods for fiber drawing.

“We have a world-class facility for glass and optical fiber production at the University of Adelaide, making ANFF-Optofab Adelaide one of the few places globally capable of manufacturing such material.”

“This accomplishment is the result of over two years of dedicated efforts, overcoming challenges in developing, constructing, and testing the miniaturized fiber draw tower by Flawless Photonics.”

Rob Loughan, CEO, Founder, and Chairman of Flawless Photonics, expressed gratitude: "I am thankful to the University of Adelaide and especially to Heike and her team at ANFF-Optofab for their invaluable dedication of resources; without their support and our successful collaboration, this historic milestone would not have been possible."

Once these space-drawn fibers return to Earth, Flawless Photonics and the team at IPAS will conduct various analyses and experiments to compare the properties of space-drawn fibers with those drawn on Earth. This will contribute to advancing knowledge of space fiber fabrication and aid in optimizing the entire process to achieve its full potential.



 
 
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