Connector Polishing of Optical Equipment

Dirty or damaged connectors on your patchcords can damage your equipment and cause measurement or transmission errors.   Even microscopic dust particles can cause a variety of problems for optical connections. A particle that partially or completely blocks the core generates strong back reflections, which can cause instability in your system. Dust particles trapped between two fibre faces can scratch the glass surfaces. Even if a particle is only situated on the cladding or the edge of the endface, it can cause an air gap or misalignment between the fibre cores which significantly degrades the optical signal.

To determine if re-polishing is required connectors are first inspected and cleaned. The types of contamination that can be cleaned include dust particles, oils and film residues.  If the endface has pits or scratches the connector should be re-polished.

Polishing connectors will;

• Remove scratches and pits
• Renew old fibre
• Improve back reflection
• Extend the life of your patchcords

Connector types that can be polished are UPC FC, SC, ST and LC.