CERN Selects Fujikura's Radiation Resistant Fibre
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April 17th 2007 - Fujikura today announced that its radiation resistant single mode optical fibre has been selected by CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, to provide communication links within the world's largest particle accelerator - the Large Hadron Collider
(LHC) - near Geneva, Switzerland.
Fujikura will supply 2,500km of fibre to collect beam instrumentation data from the LHC. To provide reliable communications, the fibre must be able to withstand localised radiation levels of up to 20 kGy/year - enough to cause radiation-induced attenuation in normal optical fibre.
"Fujikura's radiation resistant fibre will allow us to gather data consistently from the LHC collimator and beam cleaning zones where radiation is at its highest," said Luit Koert de Jonge at CERN. "We have set ourselves a November 2007 deadline for the LHC to be operational and therefore needed a reliable partner to provide this core element, which is an essential part of our communications network."
Additionally, Fujikura supplied over 100km of radiation resistant 12 way multimode ribbon fibre for data readout within the ATLAS inner detector.
The location of the fibre is close to the beam pipe and expected to receive a maximum dose of 300kGy (Si).
"We have tested samples of the same Fujikura fibre up to much larger doses," said Dr. Tony Weidberg, of Oxford University, who is working at CERN. "In fact, we found only a very small increase in attenuation,
about 0.03db/m for a dose up to 1.4 MGy(Si)."
Robert Walker, Business Development Manager at Fujikura Europe Ltd,
commented: "As nuclear research becomes increasingly important to our understanding of the universe, technology must be developed to allow the ground-breaking experiments conducted by organisations like CERN to take place. To provide a fibre that can withstand such high levels of radiation is an achievement of which we are extremely proud. We will continue to develop speciality fibres that are able to provide reliable communications links in the most extreme environments."
* For more information about CERN, please visit www.cern.ch.
About Fujikura Europe Ltd
Fujikura is one of the world's leading manufacturers and suppliers of fibre optic technology and electronic components. Established in 1885, and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, the company employs over 33,000 people worldwide.
The company specialises in the manufacture of fibre, cables, connectors, test and measurement equipment and splicing machines for a range of markets and applications, including telecommunications, datacoms, electronics, power transmission, medical, industrial and automotive.
With facilities in Japan, the USA, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Vietnam and Russia, the company has a global presence. From its European headquarters in south west London, Fujikura provides sales, technical, training and after-sales servicing functions. The company has a presence in 30 European countries and supplies many of the continent's major telecommunications vendors.
For further information, please visit www.fujikura.co.uk
