Sapphire Optics
by Clemson University materials
engineers.
Sapphire may soon supplant silica as an effective and affordable medium for fiber optics.
Silica-based optical fiber has nearly reached its physical limits for transmitting information, observes John Ballato, director of the Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies at Clemson University. As demand for high-speed data transmission accelerates, the need for more durable materials is becoming critical.
Sapphire is widely available, low cost, and has proved valuable in high-energy lasers. Ballato and his team have developed new techniques for creating fibers that overcome the challenges associated with sapphire’s crystalline structure. This will make sapphire fibers more useful for high-energy applications than typical commercial fibers.
Source: Clemson University, www.clemson.edu.