Ultrasonic-assisted drilling of preforms for fibre optics

Fibre optics for demanding applications in communications, metrology, laser technology and medicine play an important role in today’s world. Thus, efficient manufacturing technologies to machine silica preforms, being the predominant material, are required. Ultrasonic-assisted drilling using diamond grinding tools is a very efficient and highly economical machining technology. In addition to significantly lower process forces and a longer tool life, there is less surface damage to the glass fibre preform. Besides the pure drilling process, also the alignment of the channels to a core fibre using automated camera systems is important to improve the overall productivity. Present developments of ultrasonic-assisted machining processes for preforms will be presented. An overall overview on ultrasonic drilling processes also for other applications will be given.