The NPL Fibre Attenuation Standard has been specially designed in order that the accuracy of fibre attenuation measurements achieved in national standards laboratories can be transferred to the industrial user. Accurate measurements require traceability to national standards laboratories. This traceability is provided by a calibrated transfer standard and until recently the usual choice has been an optical fibre wound on a shipping spool. However, the measured attenuation of a spooled fibre can be highly sensitive to extrinsic factors such as temperature cycling and vibration. The NPL Fibre Attenuation Standard has been demonstrated to be insensitive to these factors.

NPL, in conjunction with Corning Cable Systems (formally BICC Cables Ltd), have developed an attenuation standard which can be readily transported worldwide and which has an attenuation stability to within ± 0.03 dB.

Environmental tests used for the design approval of the standard included:

• Dry heat for 21 days at 70 °C
• Damp heat for 21 days at 40 °C and 93% relative humidity
• Cold storage for 10 days at - 40 °C
• Temperature cycling for five days between - 10 °C and 70 °C
• Shipping tests, including transatlantic crossing with minimal packaging
• Vibration testing

Versatile configuration enables many uses

• Calibration of OTDR loss scale
• Evaluation of fibre attenuation coefficient uniformity
• Can also be calibrated for optical length and chromatic dispersion
• When combined with NPL's OTDR distance scale and return loss calibration artefacts, can provide a complete solution for OTDR calibration.
• Calibration of the attenuation of spectral scan benches

Specifications

• Proven attenuation stability to within ± 0.03 dB
• Total loss calibration accuracy typically better than ± 0.03 dB
• Length ranges 2 km to 15 km
• Choice of connectorised or bare fibre ends
• Single-mode and multimode fibre versions available

Contact

Customer Service tel: +44 20 8943 8637
E-mail: fibreoptics_enquiries@npl.co.uk