Is That Splice Really Good Enough? Improving Fiber Optic Splice Loss Measurement

摘要

Results from a National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI) project, formed to improve aspects of fiber optic fusion splicing, are reported. The focus of this paper is ultra low loss splicing for telecommunications product assembly, with typical loss of <0.05 dB per splice for standard SMF-SMF. A detailed review and gap analysis of available industry standards, relevant to splice loss acceptance criteria and loss test procedures, revealed the standards are generally inadequate for low loss splicing. Various project participants using different equipment and procedures performed fiber preparation, splicing, splicer loss estimation, and actual loss measurements. Sets of data spanning three loss ranges, obtained with three measurement methods were compared using an industry standard gage repeatability and reproducibility (GR&R) analysis. A subsequent comparison of loss measurement set-ups based on a cut-back method for dissimilar fiber (SMF-EDF) splices showed significant directionality in some cases, and root cause was identified using a round robin approach. A future activity of this project will be to draft a new loss measurement standard for dissimilar fiber splices, to address an important gap in the current standards.