Assuming the same factor of growth over the next decade, it has been identified that several existing technologies are close to or have reached their limits.
Reliance on the Internet is projected to be even heavier than before, which drives new demands such as significant increases in bandwidth, network capacity, and flexibility. New technological gaps emerge continuously due to the fast-paced, steady growth (estimated to about a factor of 100 for every past decade) of the Internet, which has transformed society from simple personal interactions to broader business practices.
Optical fiber preform manufacturing technologies patents driver#
The driver applications cover a broad spectrum from medical technology and life sciences, measurement and automated vision, lighting and production technology, displays, Internet hardware, and infrastructure.įor example, in the information technology, telecommunication, and market transaction segments, the demand for photonics is driven by needs for data conversion, modulation and amplification (optical modulators, optical interconnects, photo detectors, etc), data storage (hard drives, servers), and data transmission (fiber optic cables, lasers, wavelength division multiplexer filters, waveguides, etc.). The terrestrial global market is driven by increasing demand in almost every area of the global industry: consumer electronics safety and defense metrology sensing high-performance computing building and construction media and broadcasting information and communication technology telecommunication market transactions healthcare agriculture oil industry medical and healthcare, etc. The fastest growing segment was identified as being driven by the medical and healthcare industry.Ī more recent survey reports an estimated CAGR of 8.4% between 20, predicting that the global photonics market size will reach 724.22 billion USD by 2021. 1 The propelling force behind this growth was attributed to an increased demand for electronic products and an exponential increase in the volume of data in a constant process of transfer. In 2013, the global photonics market was valued at $509.7 billion US Dollars (USD), with a steady Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.8% between 20. Existing terrestrial markets (Internet, telecommunications, market transactions) and emerging space markets (on-orbit satellite servicing, space manufacturing, space resources, space communications, etc.) seem to converge, and this innovative material processing opportunity of exotic optical fibers and glasses might just be that “killer app”: technologically competitive, economically viable, and with the ability to close the business case.Įxotic optical fibers and glasses are the platform material for photonic applications, indispensable of everything from medical device technology to data telecommunications.
With the increased dependence on data (demand, bandwidth, efficiency), space and the microgravity environment provide opportunities for optimized performance of these exotic optical fibers and glasses underlying the development of enabling technologies to meet future data demand. In this article, revolutionary developments in the field of photonics over the past decade merge with the paradigm shift in the privatization of government-owned capabilities supporting a more diverse infrastructure (parabolic, suborbital, orbital), reduced price, and increased frequency to access space and the microgravity environment. Manufacturing in a gravity-free environment such as the Earth's Orbit also helps with other aspects of the fabrication process (i.e., improved form factor of the manufacturing unit, sustainability). Such factors constitute limits to the yield, transmission quality, and strength and value of these fibers they also constrain the range of applications. Gravitational effects (convection sedimentation) have a direct impact on the phase diagram of these materials and influence melting properties, crystallization temperatures, and viscosity of the elemental mix during the manufacturing process. Exotic optical fibers and glasses are the platform material for photonics applications, primarily due to their superior signal transmission (speed, low attenuation), with extending bandwidth deep into the infrared, exceeding that of silica fibers.
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