Corning Enhances Fiber Performance

CORNING, N.Y. -- Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW - News) announced further specification enhancements for Corning® SMF-28e(TM) and LEAF® fibers, two industry-leading single-mode optical fibers.Corning has improved its point discontinuity specification by 50% from <= 0.10 dB to <= 0.05 dB at 1550 nm for LEAF fiber and at both 1310 nm and 1550 nm for SMF-28e fiber. A lower point discontinuity specification benefits Corning's cabler customers as it enables better predictability and consistency of attenuation results in finished optical fiber cables, thus improving the overall attenuation uniformity. This improvement will lead to lower overall system span-loss, enabling longer transmission distances.Continuing to build on its industry-leading performance by taking uniformity one step further, Corning announced a 60% improvement in LEAF fiber's attenuation wavelength dependency in the C-band, and a 40% improvement in the L-band. System designers will benefit from tighter control over channel power equalization, which becomes even more important for ultra-long distances and high bit-rate transmission.Additionally, Corning introduced a 50% improvement to two key bending specifications on SMF-28e fiber. The first is an improved bending specification from <=0.10 dB to <=0.05 dB for 100 turns around a 50 mm diameter mandrel with a 1550 nm light source. Corning has also improved its SMF-28e fiber specification for 100 turns with a 1625 nm light source from <=0.10 dB on a 75 mm diameter mandrel to <=0.05 dB on a 60 mm mandrel, providing both an improvement in specification and a smaller bending radius. As fiber is packaged into smaller components and enclosures, tighter bending specifications allow the end user and component makers to use a smaller equipment footprint when routing fiber.Corning has also responded to the increased interest in dispersion specifications for the C-band and continued focus on full-spectrum capability by announcing dispersion specifications for SMF-28e fiber of <=18 and <=22 ps/(nm--km) for 1550 nm and 1625 nm, respectively. Corning is the first fiber manufacturer to provide a 1625 nm dispersion specification for standard single-mode fiber. These new specified values will afford end users better network planning capability for WDM systems.Corning also improved the mode field diameter (MFD) tolerance of SMF-28e fiber by 38% by changing its specification at 1550 nm from 10.4 +/-0.8 (mu)m to 10.4 +/-0.5 (mu)m. Providing a tighter MFD tolerance provides for more predictable splicing performance for end users by reducing the splice loss associated with mode field mismatch. This allows better results on mass fusion splicing of ribbon fibers and gives a greater degree of confidence in blind splicing practices."Our global reputation for producing high-quality optical fiber and delivering it with extraordinary service is why our customers consider Corning 'first in fiber'," said Robert Brown, general manager and senior vice president, Corning Optical Fiber. "This commitment to excellence is the formula for Corning's success with our customers worldwide. When it comes to continued product excellence and value-adding attribute improvements, we consider it our responsibility as a fiber leader to continue to raise the bar."Corning Inc.