Lasers & Optical Fibers Technologies

Fiber stretcher and driver (femtosecond/micrometer range) / Optical delays

Fiber stretchers, also called phase shifters, offer the attractive feature to tune and modulate the path length of the light within the fiber core and so the resulting optical delay does. They are based on voltage-driven Piezo ceramics and need to be controlled with proper electronics drivers. Any type of fiber may be assembled, please ask.

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product sheet

Select your configuration

STRETCHER
DRIVER
COMBO

STRETCHER

Discover our fiber stretchers family : Low-frequency fiber stretchers / High-frequency fiber stretchers / High-delay fiber stretchers. They are configurable in different fibers (SM, PM or MM), fiber elongations (from 0 to 100µm) and wavelengths (from UV to IR). All models are compatible with a piezo driver, from IDIL Fibres Optiques or other manufacturers

DRIVER

Discover our 2 piezo drivers models : Low-frequency piezo driver / High-frequency piezo driver. They are compatible with all fiber stretchers, from IDIL Fibres Optiques or other manufacturers

COMBO

Each combo includes a piezo driver and a fiber stretcher. They are configurable in different fibers (SM, PM or MM), fiber elongations (12µm, 20µm, 25µm, 100µm) and wavelengths (from UV to IR)

Combos (Stretcher + Driver)

How it works?

For linear models (low frequency), a short length of fiber is fixed on a piezoelectric stack. For high frequency models, several meters of fiber are winded around a round PZ element. Applying a voltage to these elements will extend the PZ dimension and stretch the fiber. The higher the voltage, the higher stretching. The modulation bandwidth is limited by the capacitive effect of the PZ element. Driver specifications have to be chosen properly in accordance with the final application (frequency vs. depth of modulation). At a first order, we can consider the fiber elasticity is not type dependent; in other words, we can stretch any type of fiber while taking care of crucial specification like the insertion loss, the PER (for PM fiber), etc.

Prefer a plug-and-play solution and try our combos

No more worrying about capacitive PZ values, driver deliverable current, etc. ; with combos, your 0-5V input modulation signal is directly translated into optical path length modulation and therefore into optical and phase delay.

Combos	LF1	LF2	HF3	HF4
Piezo driver type	Low Frequency Driver	Low Frequency Driver	High Frequency Driver	High Frequency Driver
Fiber stretcher type	ST020LF	ST040LF	ST100HF	ST500HF
Fiber elongation	0-12µm	0-32µm	0-20µm	0-100µm
Fiber stretch	0.12µm/V	0.32µm/V	0.20µm/V	1µm/V
Time delay	up to 0.06ps	up to 0.16ps	up to 0.10ps	up to 0.5ps
Tunability resolution	<10fs*	<10fs*	<1fs*	<1fs*
Modulation (large signal BW)	800Hz*	800Hz*	<20kHz*	<20kHz*
Modulation (small signal BW)	<1kHz*	<3kHz*	120kHz*	100kHz*
Optical loss	< 0.05dB	< 0.05dB	< 0.3dB	< 0.3dB
Internal fiber length	20mm	40mm	5.5m	6.5m
Consumption	< 2.5W	< 2.5W	< 20W	< 20W
Analog modulation signal	0-5V	0-5V	0-5V	0-5V
Stretcher dimensions (mm3)	50x30x20	50x30x20	85x62x39	85x62x39
Driver dimensions (mm3)	93x80x39	93x80x39	84x80x39	84x80x39

More combos are available. Please contact us.

Low-Frequency Combos: LF1 and LF2

LF Combos are ideal for applications using specific and expensive optical fiber types. LF stretchers are unique as they only require 20mm (FS 20µm) or 40mm (FS 40µm) of internal fiber length. They also offer ultra-low insertion loss < 0.05dB and are compatible with a large range of optical fibers (SM, MM, PM) and wavelengths from UV to IR.

: ST 20µm, SM 1550nm, Delay vs Voltage*

: ST 40µm, SM 1550nm, Delay vs Voltage*

High-Frequency Combos: HF3 and HF4

HF Combo are ideal for high-speed, fast feedback loop, interferometric and sensing applications. HF stretchers are the faster models available and offer enhanced signal modulation. They also offer low insertion loss < 0.3dB and are compatible with most of optical fibers (SM, MM, PM) and wavelengths from Vis to IR.