Tabletop-sized fiber drawing and glass processing station

Tampere University Foundation sr is publishing direct award notice for 'Tabletop-sized fiber drawing and glass processing station'.

BACKGROUND TAU Tampere University (hereinafter ‘TAU’) is well prepared for the fabrication of glasses with new compositions, the characterization and testing of various fibers types, combining expertise of three different groups in the Photonics Laboratory (https://www.tuni.fi/en/about-us/photonics), particularly the Photonic Glasses Group (PGG) (https://www.tuni.fi/en/research/photonic-glasses), the Advanced Coherent Sources (ACS) (https://www.tuni.fi/en/research/advanced-coherent-sources) and the Ultrafast Photonics (UP) (https://www.tuni.fi/en/research/ultrafast-photonics). TAU’s laboratories have over 100 m2 dedicated lab space. PGG has multiple melting (up to 1650oC) and annealing furnaces and also a uniaxial hydraulic press combined with a tube furnace (Mti Corp., USA, YLJ-HP6) for the processing of glasses and glass-ceramics. The lab also has two chemical hoods. The lab has a OHAUS Adventurer Analytical Scale device for density measurement. ACS has various spectrum analysers covered wavelength range from 350 nm up to 2500 nm for measurement of fiber losses and luminescence. The lab is equipped with a Fitel splicer and a Vytran glass processing station. It also has coupler machine for production of fiber-based components. UP has multiple ultrafast lasers systems in the visible and near-IR and characterization equipment including ultrafast detectors, real-time oscilloscope and spectrum analyzers from 350 to 5500 nm. Equipment for the materials (bulk and fiber) characterization includes NETZSCH STA 449 F1 Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), UV-VIS-NIR Spectrophotometer (UV-3600 Plus, Shimadzu), Panalytical EMPYREAN multipurpose X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD), optical microscopes, a VEECO 3D Optical surface profiles and AFM, METRICON for refractive index measurement at 5 different wavelengths (from UV to NIR), PerkinElmer Spectrum One FTIR2000 Spectrometer (Waltham, MA, USA) including the Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) mode, inVia Qontor confocal Raman microscope, Edinburgh and optical set-ups for spectroscopic properties measurement (including lifetime measurement). NEED The Smartsplicer - Glass Station will extend TAU fiber technology development capabilities, enabling to draw both silica and speciality optical fibres, tapers with micrometer accuracy from homemade and commercial preforms, as well as longitudinally tailored fiber using a laser as a heating source. The equipment can be used to draw fibers made of various glasses including silica and soft glasses with low melting temperature such as phosphate, fluoride, tellurite and chalcogenide glasses. Additionally, this tower can be used to heat ceramics. To our knowledge, the equipment provides a unique and novel approach to fabricate fibers of special geometrical design with no analogues on the market and which is not possible to realize by traditional fuse heating drawing towers. The system is a "closet" size equipment with minimum required maintenance as compared to a standard fiber drawing tower. This will position the Photonics Laboratory at TAU as a unique, one-of-a-kind fiber developer laboratory with technology not available anywhere else. MARKET ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION FOR DIRECT AWARD The core of this acquisition is special fiber drawing tower solution based on NYFORS SMARTSPLICER system. The heating source is from Ring shaped CO₂ laser beam allowing operating temperature between 300 and 2000oC with a variation of drawing temperature at ± 25oC. It features a powerful and clean laser heat source that enables completely contamination-free glass shaping with low maintenance requirements and no need for consumables such as process gas, filaments or electrodes. Additionally, the laser ring focus and diameter is directly controllable by operator. So already, this stratifies the fiber drawing market to only a handful of players. Companies supplying fiber drawing towers focus on the drawing of silica glass with high drawing temperature or on the drawing of soft glasses with drawing temperature <1000oC. What sets NYFORS apart from other fiber drawing tower manufacturers is that, having that drawing temperature variability will enhance the efficacy of this system to draw from the same <2m heigh tower not only Silica but also soft glasses such as fluoride, tellurite, chalcogenide from the same tower. The NYFORS tower is uniquely qualified to address all these needs. The NYFORS tower is also uniquely designed for preform diameters ranging from 1 to 3 mm, preform length between 3 and 10 cm. The NYFORS tower is also well equipped to draw using feeding and process speeds ranging between 0.05 and 10 mm/min and 0.1 and 10 m/min, respectively. The SMARTSPLICER CO2 Glass processing station base system can also be used for vertical splicing for end-caps, tapers and fiber to fiber splicing. The system includes one set fiber clamps for end-cap splicing and one set for tapering/fiber to fiber splicing. Due to technical and compatibility reasons, only the specific supplier can be considered. Reasonable alternatives or substitute solutions do not exist, and absence of competition is not due to an artificial narrowing of purchase conditions. Contracting authority has the right to set a quality level based on its own needs which products or services must implement.