Fabrication and polishing of chalcogenide glass optical fiber connectors

摘要

In this paper, we described the fabrication and polishing characteristics of the end-faces of highly stable physical contact type chalcogenide optical fiber connectors. The effects of downforce pressure, polishing duration, and polishing fluid on the polishing process with abrasive grit size of 0.02 mu m were investigated, and the final polishing parameters were determined. The surface roughness Ra was approximately 20 urn in the fiber area, and the average fiber roughness of the core region (10 mu m x 10 mu m) was about 3 nm, which were measured by the profilometry and atomic force microscope. Finally, the optical performance was analyzed in terms of the insertion loss of 1 dB and return loss of -18 dB.