Advancements in Fiber Optics for Spectrometers

Optical fibers are an important component in modern spectroscopy, enabling remote sampling, flexible measurements, and smaller instruments. But using fiber optics in spectroscopy systems entails choices and trade-offs in components. Light sources, detectors, fiber parameters, sample interfaces, and more must be considered. While no single material transmits all the wavelengths of interest to spectroscopists, several fiber optic technologies overlap to cover the spectral range from the ultraviolet (UV) to the mid-infrared (MIR). For its particularly overlapping spectral range coverage, fused silica has been the fiber material of choice for enabling various spectroscopic techniques, such as reflectance, near-infrared (NIR), and Fourier transform NIR (FT-NIR). But fibers drawn from fluoride glasses, chalcogenide glasses, and polycrystalline halides have many uses as well. Pawluczyk shares respective properties, advantages, and disadvantages of common fiber materials as they relate to different applications. He also presents unique enhancements to fiber optic solutions, such as integrated filters, spatially resolved sampling, and noncircular cores.

About the presenter
Rafal Pawluczyk is CTO of FiberTech Optica Inc. He holds a Master of Science in physics from Laval University in Québec, where he studied optical design and testing. In 1995, Pawluczyk co-founded P&P Optica Inc., a company specializing in spectroscopy instrumentation for the food processing industry. While with P&P Optica, he began working with and developing fiber optic assemblies, and in 2000, the fiber optic business was spun off into FiberTech Optica. Pawluczyk has extensive expertise in fiber optics, optomechanical design, and spectroscopy.