Transparent End-Plate Sealing for Hollow-Core Fiber Connectors

The patent applies preliminary action by sealing the hollow-core optical fiber interior with an end plate before the fiber is exposed to the ambient environment during connectorization. This preventive measure blocks contaminant ingress pathways at the fiber end face, ensuring the hollow core remains protected throughout deployment and operation, thereby maintaining the speed advantage while eliminating contamination vulnerability

The end plate serves as an intermediary element between the hollow-core optical fiber interior and the external environment. This mediator physically separates the clean internal space from potential contaminants in the ambient environment, allowing the fiber to maintain its performance benefits while being protected from harmful factors through the intermediate barrier

The end plate is installed during the connectorization process itself, performing the sealing action at the same time as the connection is made. This preliminary sealing ensures that once the connector is assembled, the hollow core is immediately protected, combining the ease of standard connectorization procedures with reliable contamination prevention

The patent extracts the sealing function from the fiber structure itself and implements it as a separate end plate component. This allows the fiber to maintain its open-end configuration for easy connectorization while the extracted sealing element provides the necessary protection, separating the connection function from the protection function