CHARACTERIZATION OF SPLICE LOSS ESTIMATION ACCURACY USING LOCAL lNJECTION/DETECTION AND PROFILE CORE ALIGNMENT METHODS

摘要

Today’s most sophisticated optical fiber fusion splicing machines typically use one of tworndifferent active core alignment techniques for minimizing splice loss (i.e., LocalrnInjection/Detection and Core Profile Alignment techniques) on single-mode optical fibers.rnBoth of these fiber alignment techniques are effective at producing very low loss splicesrnwith mean values on the order of 0.02 dB for identical single-mode fibers. In addition torntheir capability to produce ultra low splice losses, these fusion splicing machines are alsornequipped with splice loss estimation technologies. These “estimators” can be used in lieurnof direct measurement of splice loss using a hi-directional OTDR (Optical Time DomainrnReflectometer) technique or optical power source and detector therefore, saving bothrntime and money when splicing in the optical cable plant.rnThe intent of this investigative work is to examine the accuracy of the splice lossrnestimation for the active core alignment techniques (i.e., LID and PAS). The experimentrninvolved evaluation of splice loss using two different types of dispersion-unshifted singlemodernoptical fibers with different fiber geometry characteristics. The fibers werernidentfied based on their different manufacturing method and measurement of core to cladrnconcentricity. The same number of fusion splices were made with each fusion splicer. Forrneach technique, the estimated splice losses were within 0.1 dB of the measured splice lossrnfor greater than 90% of the splices.