Plexon recommends High Durability patch cables for studies using very active, freely moving animals. This cable has a numerical aperture of .5 and bending radius of 0.5cm and is less likely to break when twisted or bent by an animal. Some customers that use these patch cables noted that they could see the light “glowing” inside this blue fiber. Although, power output is not altered by the visible light, the light was interfering with behavioral tracking in some studies.

Plexon developed a high durability patch cable with a black coating to prevent light from shining through the cable. The black coated high durability fiber is recommended when tracking behavior in dark arenas or when the color of the blue fiber interferes with tracking software. The image shows a standard high durability patch cable as compared to a black coated high durability patch cable (power outputs do not vary between the two).