Lab 03

Splicing of Optical Fibers

Splicing is defined as a process of the permanent connection of two pieces of
optical fibers.

Equipment Needed:

Stripper
Cleaver
Splicer

Theory:
To link fiber optic components so optical energy can be transferred within the
system, two primary methods are used:
Connectors

Splices

Removable

Permanent

Can be factory-installed

Can be Field-installed

Can be field-installed

Lower Attenuation than

connectors
Strong, compact junction

Easy to configure
Provide standard
interface

Lower cost per connection

There are two types of Splicing.

Mechanical
A mechanical splice is a junction of two or more optical fibers that are
aligned and held in place by a self-contained assembly (usually the size
of a large carpenter's nail). The fibers are not permanently joined, just
precisely held together so that light can pass from one to another.

Fusion

Fusion splices use an electric arc to weld two fiber-optic cables

together. The process of fusion splicing involves using localized heat to
melt or fuse the ends of two optical fibers together. The quality of each
fiber end is inspected using a microscope. In fusion splicing, splice loss
is a direct function of the angles and quality of the two fiber-end faces.

Factors affecting Splice quality

A high quality fusion is measured by two parameters.

Splice Loss.
Factors that determine loss in any fiber joining method can be
classified as intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic , loss factors are
determined when the fiber is manufactures and are beyond the control
of individual doing the splicing.
Extrinsic, factors are those induced by the spilicing methods and
procedures. It includes lateral and angular misalignment,
contamination and core deformation. They can be controlled by the
skill of individual doing the splicing.
Tensile Strength.

Procedure:

Firstly, Remove the fiber coating

using the stripper.

Stripper is a mechanical tool used to remove

the fiber coating. It is fast, safe , inexpensive and
creates a well defined coating termination.

Secondly, Clean the Surface.

Any acrylate coating residue that remains after stripping should be removed from
the bare fiber surface. A clean, lint-free cotton pad gently pulled over the fiber
surface work well for most mechanically striped fibers with acrylate coatings.

Thirdly, Prepare a proper fiber-end using a Cleaver.

Cleaving is a process that involves introduction of a crack in the fiber,

generally by means of cutting tool made from a material such
as diamond, sapphire, or tungsten carbide, followed by the application of
tensile stress in the vicinity of the crack
Since the Primary attribute affecting single fusion splicing is the end angle ,
proper fiber end preparation is a fundamental step in obtaining an
acceptable fusion splice. Fiber-end angle requirements vary slightly from user
to user, depending on the splice loss requirements and the cleavers used.

Fourthly, Align the fiber either manually or using splicing units.

Manual Alignment:
The initial alignment step for single fiber fusion is to mount the clean,
cleaved fibers into alignment blocks and holding mechanism of the splicer.
First visually align the fibers in the lateral X-Y directions. Visual alignment
requires maintaining the smallest gap possible between the fibers, thus
reducing the visual errors that may occur when manually aligning the edges
of the fibers under magnification.

Automatic:
For fully automated fusion splicing units, initial alignment involves nothing
more than placing the fibers in the V-groove chucks. The unit automatically
will align the fibers.

Splicing Unit

Once the fibers have been prepared for fusion( stripped, cleaved, cleaned
appropriately and placed in spilicing machine) several equipments
alternatives and methods of fiber core alignment exsist.
1)
2)
3)
4)

Power Monitoring using a source and detector.

Use of OTDR (Optical time domain Reflectometer ) power monitoring.
Local Injection and detection techniques.
Passive V-groove Alignment.

Lastly, we have to Fuse the optimally aligned fibers.

One or more short bursts of arc current are used to remove any
contaminants from the fiber ends.
Next step is pre-fusion. During pre-fusion step, the fiber ends are
heated to soften the joining fiber ends. This assure that the fiber ends
are at optimum temperature during the subsequent fusion step thus
allowing the fibers to flow together upon physical contact.
The optimum fiber temperature profiles are effected by both the prefusion and final fusion arc parameters ( arc current and time ) as well
as the time period the fiber ends remain separated before physical
contact .

Result:
It results in a clear pristine splice when viewed with standard fusion
splicer optics.

As seen through the viewing

optics of a fusion splicer.