Specialty Optical Fiber

Specialty optical fibers drive a variety of industries, from communications and oil and gas exploration and production to laser surgery, high-power lasers, and automotive and aerospace. Prysmian is the leading supplier of Verrillon® optical fibers for harsh environments, specialty applications, polarization-maintaining, and communications.

Verrillon® Optical Fibers for Harsh Environments, Medical and Specialty Applications 

Prysmian’s Verrillon® fiber is the preferred solution for specialty optical fibers in the oil and gas, medical, military, industrial and communications markets. We uniquely design optical fibers and components widely used in sensing and communications applications. Our Verrillon® product line originated at Verrillon, a company founded by Dr. Abdel Soufiane in 2000. The mission was simple: bring breakthrough specialty optical fiber solutions to harsh environments and specialty markets through close customer collaboration and a deep understanding of their applications.

Our suite of specialized fiber and fiber solutions features technologies including:

• Hermetically sealed
• High-temperature resistance
• Glass chemistry optimization
• Photosensitive fibers 
• Solarization-Resistant glass chemistry

• Radiation-Hardened fibers

• Various custom dimensions and waveguide designs
• The widest coating offering, ranging from cryogenic temperatures up to 500°C
• Metal coating of pre-processed fiber optic devices
• Precision coiling 

Superior Fiber Manufacturing Facility 

Fiber Draw Capabilities 

Unlike most other specialty optical fiber manufacturers, Prysmian’s state-of-the-art, custom-designed Verrillon® fiber facility uses tall draw towers that allow faster fiber draws and support a wide variety of coatings and inline processing stations for novel fiber designs. Our draw towers are more than 20 meters high, allowing multiple coating stations to mount on the tower simultaneously and swing in and out of the fiber train as the product design requires.

Hermetically-Sealed Optical Fibers 

Prysmian’s Verrillon® hermetically sealed optical fibers have been successfully deployed in downhole applications worldwide. The unique composition and manufacturing method of our carbon coating make it the most reliable barrier against hydrogen at temperatures exceeding 150°C. Our contactless online monitoring system ensures the carbon layer's integrity along the fiber's entire length. Additionally, our state-of-the-art hydrogen testing facility simulates well conditions and provides real-time performance predictions for our customers.

Glass Technology Provides the Ultimate Resistance to Hydrogen Ingress at High Temperatures 

As the global demand for oil and gas increases, fiber optic sensing technologies have become crucial for oil recovery and reservoir optimization. This demand has spurred numerous fiber optic distributed techniques to monitor temperature, pressure, strain, flow, seismic and acoustic parameters. As these monitoring technologies have advanced, the need for optical fibers and cables that withstand high temperatures (>300°C) and high partial pressures of hydrogen in downhole environments has increased dramatically. For example, steam-injected wells using techniques such as SAGD or CSS require robust fiber-optic sensing systems that can survive heat, steam, hydrogen ingress and water permeation. 

Although carbon technology is extremely reliable in the mid-temperature range, its effectiveness diminishes above 200°C. Prysmian makes the optical fiber glass inherently immune to hydrogen darkening, without external protection.