ULTRASONIC SPLICING OF PLASTIC OPTICAL FIBERS

摘要

We demonstrate a new method for splicing plastic optical fibers by irradiation of mega-hertz ultrasonic waves. The lowest connection loss of 1.5 dB is obtained at 2 MHz, while the high mechanical strength of 59 N (close to the strength of the base polymer) is achieved at 1 MHz. We show that the loss and the strength are in the trade-off relation in this experiment, and that the duration of ultrasonic irradiation has a certain optimal value of approximately 1 second.