Rollable optical fiber ribbon with low attenuation, large mode field diameter optical fiber and cable
A rollable optical fiber ribbon utilizing low attenuation, bend insensitive fibers and cables incorporating such rollable ribbons are provided. The optical fibers are supported by a ribbon body, and the ribbon body is formed from a flexible material such that the optical fibers are reversibly movable from an unrolled position to a rolled position. The optical fibers have a large mode filed diameter, such as ≥9 microns at 1310 nm facilitating low attenuation splicing/connectorization. The optical fibers are also highly bend insensitive, such as having a macrobend loss of ≤0.5 dB/turn at 1550 nm for a mandrel diameter of 15 mm.
1. A cable comprising:
a cable jacket;
a plurality of buffer tubes surrounded by the cable jacket,
an optical fiber ribbon located within each buffer tube, each optical fiber ribbon comprising a plurality of optical fibers coupled together via a ribbon body, wherein the ribbon body is formed from a flexible material such that the plurality of optical fibers are reversibly movable from an unrolled position to a rolled position; and
active particles located within each buffer tube, wherein an average maximum outer dimension of the active particles within the buffer tube is <50 microns and each buffer tube has less than 5 mg of active particles per meter of buffer tube length;
wherein each optical fiber comprises:
a mode field diameter of ≥9 microns at 1310 nm; and
a macrobend loss of ≤0.5 dB/turn at 1550 nm for a mandrel diameter of 15 mm.
2. The cable of claim 1 , wherein the active particles are at least one of SAP water absorbing particles, fire retardant magnesium hydroxide particles, fire retardant aluminum trihydrate particles, and smoke suppressant molybdenum-based particles, wherein each of the optical fibers further comprises:
an outer diameter of ≤210 microns;
a cable cutoff of ≤1260 nm; and
a wire-mesh covered drum microbending loss at 1550 nm of ≤0.03 dB/km.
3. The cable of claim 1 , wherein less than 50% of the active particles of each buffer tube have a maximum outer dimension >25 microns.
4. The cable of claim 1 , wherein the average maximum outer dimension of the active particles within each buffer tube is between 1% and 30% of a diameter of each buffer tube.