As part of its ongoing commitment to produce industry-leading solutions, optical fiber and fiber optic cable manufacturer AFL has introduced the VHS400 series. AFL’s Verrillon line of specialty optical fibers are designed to withstand ultra-harsh environments within the oil and gas, industrial, geothermal and military markets.

VHS400 series is a pure silica core dual-wavelength single mode optical fiber that is optimized for use at both 1310 nm and 1550 nm wavelengths. With its entirely down-doped cladding design, VHS400 series fibers are engineered to have nine times bend loss improvement over commercial pure silica core fiber designs. Additionally, the VHS400 series pure silica core chemistry will deliver the ultimate performance Source: AFLagainst hydrogen darkening.

“Our VHS500 is a pure silica core single mode fiber designed for 1550 nm operation and has been deployed in hundreds of harsh environment applications since 2012. The new VHS400 will allow our customers to use this same fiber design for applications that require single-mode operation at 1310 nm and 1550 nm,” explained Dr. Abdel Soufiane, general manager and CTO for AFL’s Specialty Fiber Division. “The VHS400 has unmatched performance when exposed to harsh environments with exceptionally low bend loss.”

The VHS400 fiber family is manufactured with various coatings — including carbon, silicone/perfluoroalkoxy (PFA) polymer, mid-temp acrylate and polyimide — allowing it to withstand high temperatures and hydrogen-containing atmospheres. Carbon coating can provide hermeticity against water and hydrogen in downhole applications and improves fatigue resistance in long-term deployments.

The VHS400 fiber series is available at proof test levels of 100 kpsi and 200 kpsi.