Our patented anvil-less ultrasonic cleaving action minimizes fiber end contamination, hackle, and misting – a cleaving technique which results in superb planar fiber ends of mirror quality. A precision ground diamond blade is attached to a resonant acoustic stepped horn. The ultrasonic horn resonance is maintained by an electronic circuit for the duration of the cleave and then automatically terminated to preserve battery life. The ultrasonically vibrating blade moves slowly toward the tensioned fiber on stictionless damped bearings. Cleaving then takes place without damage from compressive stresses and blade intrusion into the fiber that is typical of conventional cleavers. The adjustable diamond blade normally gives 20,000 cleaves and is replaceable.

Model FK11 enables every cleave substantially less than one degree. It is ideal for cleaving standard telecom fibers in preparation for fusion splicing and fiber testing. Operation is simple: A stripped fiber is placed in specially designed low torsion V-groove clamps. Constant axial tension is then applied to the fiber with the flip of a lever. Cleaving is then initiated by releasing another lever.

The model FK12 angled fiber cleaver produces mirror-like fiber ends with user-selectable cleave angles to minimize back reflections. For many sensitive fiber optic systems, back reflections can induce excessive noise and laser instability. To mitigate this, angle cleaving of fiber end faces frustrates the backward propagation of end face reflections. A properly chosen cleave angle can reduce back reflections to less than -60 dB. The simple, fast and repeatable operation of the FK12 delivers convenience and performance unmatched by angle polishing or index matching schemes for reducing back reflections.