While holding the probe from its glass tube and keep the fiber sheath in your hand, avoid stretching the white plastic shield part of the fiber. Do not pull the plastic shield part hard.
=== Handling the Probes and the Fibers ===
The Probes and the fibers are made of a very pure, sensitive, and expensive materials. Treat them with care. Unwind a fiber gently and work out any tangles carefully.
Remove the protective cap on the optical fiber cable connector. Connectors should be cleaned before interconnection. Any dirt or contamination can damage the connector or degrade performance. In other words, fiber optic connectors should to be cleaned every time they are mated and unmated. Use a dry cleaning cloth (reel-based cassette cleaner) to remove dirt, dust, and oil from connector end faces (Figure 2.5). You can also carefully clean a dirty fiber connector with isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and then dry with FIS fiber optic cleaner.
=== Connecting the Probe to [[NeoScan]] Optical Mainframe ===
The probe is coupled with a 10-meter-long PM fiber and connects to the optical mainframe with a FC/APC optical fiber connector. Remove the APC protection caps and keep safe for reuse when repacking the instrument. Gently clean and attach the appropriate fiber connectors to the correct fiber ports of the [[NeoScan]] system. There is a pre-aligned (slow or fast axis) adjustable key connectors for the PM axis alignment across a connection. Make sure the key is aligned in the slot properly before tightening, see Figure 2.6.
=== Quick Test of the [[NeoScan]] System ===
As a quick system test:
When the program starts, the system should detect the total return power and polarization power and display their graphs over time and show their numerical values in mW, see Figure 2.8. The green âProbe Detectedâ indicator light will indicate that the probe is connected to the correct channel. Otherwise, if either the total return power or the polarization power is too low (less than 0.3 mW), the information panel will remind the users to correct the problem. This can be the case if the probe is not connected or is defective or there is a problem with the [[NeoScan]] system (Figure 2.9). Select the channel number you want to check using the dropdown list labeled âSelect Channel.â
=== Deploying the Probe on a Probe Fixture ===
During the scan or optimization process, the probe will be mounted on a plastic probe fixtures. The plastic probe fixtures has been mounted on translation stage by a single cap screw and holds the probe (Figure 2.10). The probe is positioned inside the gap located on probe holder and is secured by a cap which is fastened by screws as shown in Figure 2.11.