Demands for Medical Optical Fibers And Microsphere Resonators

Most people's impression of optical fibers is limited to network communication, but optical fibers have long been used in operating rooms and physical laboratories. The optical fiber probes used for medical laser transmission, and the silica microspheres used in microsphere resonators, all require a precisely sized and smooth spherical lens to be burned at the end of the optical fiber.

In medical laser surgeries, the optical fiber serves as both the transmission channel for laser energy and the "lens" at the irradiation end. If the end of the optical fiber is directly cut flat, the laser emission spot will be small and the energy will be concentrated, which may cause local overheating; after being shaped into a spherical lens, the light spot will be more evenly dispersed, the irradiation range will be controllable, and the end face reflection will be reduced.

Echo loss is a key indicator for medical optical fibers. The reflected light not only loses energy but also may return along the optical fiber and damage the laser device.

The ball diameter accuracy and roundness are also important. The range of 150 - 350 μm covers the end face size requirements of common medical optical fibers, with an accuracy of ±10 μm and a roundness of ≤ 5% ensuring the consistency of the light spot shape.

The end face of medical optical fibers requires extremely high cleanliness. Any debris or chemical residues could pose risks during the operation. Arc discharge is a non-contact heating method that does not require grinding paste, does not produce mechanical debris, and does not use gas pipelines. The end face of tungsten alloy electrodes is smooth and free of foreign substances after discharge, which better meets the cleanliness requirements of medical manufacturing.

The microsphere resonator is an optical device that utilizes total reflection of light on the surface of the microsphere to form a whispering gallery mode (WGM). It is widely used in research fields such as sensing, quantum optics, and nonlinear optics. The size accuracy and roundness of the microsphere directly affect the quality factor (Q value) of the resonant peak - the more round the sphere and the smoother the surface, the higher the Q value.

The demand for ball-burning equipment in scientific research scenarios is different from that in production lines: the output is not large, but the parameters of each ball must be precisely controllable, reproducible, and traceable.