Automated testing of optical fibres: towards the design of the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer Fibre Transmission System

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1807.09182
• Publication Date: 2018-01-01
• Authors: Stephanie Monty; Farbod Jahandar; Joo‐Young Lee; Kim A. Venn; Colin Bradley; Darren Erickson; D. Crampton; Victor Nicolov; Collin Kielty; Celine Mazoukh; Patrick B. Hall
• Keywords: Collimated light; Test bench

We present the results of an automated fibre optic test bench constructed at University Victoria as part Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE) Fibre Transmission System (FiTS). In preparation for MSE-FiTS, we have begun characterizing focal ratio degradation (FRD) candidate multi-mode fibres with ultimate goal testing all ~4000 MSE fibres. To achieve this, built optical to perform version collimated beam test. Herein design and discuss automation components by introducing Big FiTS Wrapper (Big FFW), our open-source software. conclude tests performed using FFW on a sample fibre, comparing against those found manual methods. Our suggest that meets science requirement < 5% FRD f=2 less than 1% disagreement between both measurement