If you’ve ever ordered helium from my supplier team—whether for party balloons, medical imaging, or industrial leak detection—you probably know it’s a non-renewable, rare resource with a very specific set of properties. It’s lighter than air, inert, and has the lowest boiling point of any element on the periodic table. But until a few years ago, I’d never stopped to wonder if those same tiny, super-cooled helium atoms could play a role in a technology that’s become so ubiquitous it’s almost invisible: optical fibers. As someone who’s spent the last 12 years sourcing and supplying helium to labs, manufacturing plants, and energy companies, I’ve fielded more weird questions about our gas than I can count, but “can helium be used in optical fibers?” is one that’s stuck with me. It’s not a trivial question, either. Optical fiber is the backbone of the internet, powering everything from Zoom calls to cloud servers to 5G networks, so any tweak to how it’s made or operated has huge ripple effects. Let’s break this down, because the answer isn’t a simple yes or no—it’s a story that ties together material science, manufacturing, and the future of global tech infrastructure. Helium
First, let’s recall how optical fibers are made, because that’s where helium first enters the picture. The core of a fiber is a thin strand of ultra-pure glass, usually silica (SiO2), and the cladding around it, which has a slightly lower refractive index to keep light bouncing along the core without leaking out. To make that glass, manufacturers use a process called modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD), which is the gold standard for high-performance fibers. Here’s how MCVD works: they take a hollow glass rod, heat it to around 1,800°C (3,272°F) with a hydrogen-oxygen torch, and blow a mix of vaporized silica, germanium (to adjust refractive index), and other dopants through the center of the rod. As that gas hits the hot wall, it reacts and condenses into a solid layer of glass. Repeat this dozens of times for the core and cladding, then collapse the rod into a solid preform—think of it as a giant glass rod, the size of a baton, that’s later drawn into tiny, hair-thin fiber.
For decades, fiber manufacturers used nitrogen to purge air from the MCVD rod between layers, right? But over the last 15 years, more and more shops have switched to helium for that step. Why? Helium’s tiny atomic size (it’s the smallest monatomic element, after all) and inertness make it way better at flushing out moisture, oxygen, and other tiny impurities from the porous preform layers. Those impurities are bad news for optical fibers—they cause signal loss, also called attenuation, which is like static on a phone call. Even a tiny amount of water or oxygen trapped in the glass can turn into a defect that eats away at light as it travels, forcing internet providers to install costly signal amplifiers every 50 to 100 kilometers, instead of much farther. Helium doesn’t react with the hot glass, so it doesn’t leave behind any contaminants of its own. It also flows more easily through the narrow gaps between the glass layers than nitrogen, so it gets into hard-to-reach spots that nitrogen misses. A 2018 study from the University of Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Centre—one of the leading fiber research labs in the world—found that replacing nitrogen purge gas with helium reduced attenuation by up to 12% in single-mode fibers, the type used for long-haul internet. That’s a huge win for network efficiency, and it’s why now, about 30% of global fiber manufacturers use helium as a purge gas in MCVD, a number that’s growing every year as 5G and cloud traffic booms.
But helium’s role in optical fibers doesn’t stop at manufacturing. There’s another, more cutting-edge use: helium-based cooling for specialty optical fibers, specifically the ones used in high-power lasers and quantum computing. Wait, optical fibers in quantum computers? Let’s clarify that. Quantum networks rely on “quantum bits,” or qubits, that transmit information using light particles (photons). Those photons need to travel without being disturbed by heat or vibration, so the fibers carrying them have to be kept extremely cold—near absolute zero, or -273.15°C. That’s where supercooled helium (liquid helium, specifically) comes in. Liquid helium has been used for decades to cool MRI machines and particle accelerators, and it’s now being adapted to cool specialty fibers for quantum communication. A team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) demonstrated in 2021 that a fiber cooled to 1.8 Kelvin (just above absolute zero) had 100x lower signal loss at single-photon levels than a room-temperature fiber, making it ideal for quantum network links. Unlike nitrogen, which would liquefy at those temperatures and cause clogs or pressure issues, helium stays a gas at extremely low pressures (it only becomes liquid at 4.2 Kelvin at standard atmospheric pressure, even lower at reduced pressures), so it’s perfect for this application. It’s not just quantum, either: high-power fiber lasers used for cutting metal, welding, and even medical surgery also need cooling. Those lasers can get hot enough to warp the fiber core, which distorts the laser beam. Helium’s high thermal conductivity means it can carry away heat 5x better than nitrogen, so it keeps the fiber stable even at power levels of 10,000 watts or more. That’s a game-changer for industrial manufacturing, where fiber lasers are replacing old CO2 lasers in car factories and aerospace plants.
Of course, none of this would matter if helium were easy to get. But as a helium supplier, I know firsthand that helium is the most unappreciated critical material in the global tech supply chain. It’s not mined as a primary product—most helium comes from natural gas deposits where it’s trapped in small concentrations, formed by radioactive decay in the Earth’s crust. The U.S. used to be the world’s top producer, but new sources in Qatar and Algeria have shifted the market, and global demand has outpaced supply in recent years. Back in 2022, there was a six-month shortage of industrial helium that slowed down fiber manufacturing plants in the U.S. and Europe, because they couldn’t get enough purge gas to keep production lines running. That’s a problem, because as more fiber makers switch to helium, demand for helium as a purge gas is projected to grow by 7% annually through 2030, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). That’s why my team isn’t just selling helium—we’re working with fiber manufacturers to recycle their helium, too. When helium is used in MCVD, most of it is exhausted from the production line, but it’s still pure enough to be filtered, compressed, and reused, instead of being vented into the atmosphere. We’ve developed a closed-loop system that lets manufacturers recycle 90% of the helium they use for purge gas, cutting their costs and reducing the strain on global helium supplies. That’s a big part of the story that most people don’t hear: helium isn’t just a one-time input for fiber making—it’s a resource we can manage sustainably, as long as we have the right systems in place.
I’ve had customers tell me, “Why use helium when nitrogen is cheaper?” And it’s true, nitrogen is abundant and cheap. But when you’re making fiber that’s laid under the Atlantic Ocean, carrying data for millions of people, the small difference in upfront cost is nothing compared to the cost of fixing signal loss, replacing faulty fibers, or dealing with network outages. A single undersea fiber cable costs $300 million to make and lay, and any flaw that causes signal loss can cost operators hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in lost revenue. Helium reduces that risk, so it’s worth the investment.
There’s also another emerging use I’m excited about, one that’s still in early lab testing but has big potential: helium doping of optical fiber cores. Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) reported in 2023 that when they expose a silica fiber preform to helium gas under high pressure during MCVD, the helium atoms get trapped in tiny defects in the glass structure. Those helium atoms act as “quantum sensors”: they can detect tiny changes in temperature, pressure, or magnetic field as light travels through the fiber. The result? A single fiber that can carry internet data and act as a distributed sensor for earthquake detection, pipeline monitoring, or even medical imaging. Imagine a fiber optic cable running under a city that not only carries Zoom calls but alerts engineers to a water leak or a building shift—all without needing separate sensors. That’s the kind of innovation that makes me love my job, because it means a gas we’ve used for balloons for generations is now part of the next wave of technology.
Now, I know there are skeptics out there who say helium is too rare, too expensive, that we should move to other gases. I get it—when I started in this industry 12 years ago, everyone thought helium was just for party balloons and blimps. But the data shows that helium isn’t a frivolous choice for optical fibers. It’s a critical material that improves performance, reduces long-term costs, and enables technologies that will shape the next 50 years. The key is using it wisely, which is why we prioritize recycling, supply chain transparency, and working with researchers to find new uses that make the most of every cubic foot of helium we produce.
If you’re a fiber manufacturer, a network operator, or a researcher working on next-gen optical tech, and you’re looking for a reliable helium supply partner that understands both the gas and the technology it powers, we’re here to help. We don’t just send you a tank of helium—we provide consulting on purge systems, recycling solutions, and bulk supply contracts designed to fit your production needs. The future of optical fibers depends on small, specialized inputs, and helium is one of those inputs that makes a huge difference. Let’s work together to keep our networks running fast, efficient, and reliable.
Nitrogen References
- Townsend, P., et al. (2018). Helium purge gas for low-attenuation optical fiber fabrication. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 36(10), 1987-1993.
- NIST Quantum Information Group. (2021). Low-loss optical fibers for cryogenic quantum communication. Optics Express, 29(12), 18762-18775.
- International Energy Agency. (2022). Global Helium Market Report. IEA Special Report on Critical Minerals.
- KAIST Department of Physics. (2023). Helium-doped silica fibers for distributed sensing and quantum applications. Nature Photonics, 17(8), 672-679.
- Fibre Industry Association. (2022). Global optical fiber manufacturing trends and material demand forecast. FIA Annual Technical Report.
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