OPTICAL

FIBER
SPLICES

INTRODUCTION
Splice

A permanent (or) semi-permanent joint

made by overlapping two ends of the fibers

Splicer

mechanical device for joining two pieces of

paper or film or magnetic tape

Splicing

process of the permanent connection of two

pieces of optical fibers

CONTD.

Splicing is used to establish long haul optical fiber

link.

Splices offer lower attenuation and lower back

reflection

than

the

connectors

expensive

Factors considered in splicing

Geometrical difference between two fibers

Fiber misalignments at the joint

Mechanical strength of the splice

and

are

less

FIBER END FACE PREPARATION

End face preparation is the first step before splicing or

connecting the fibers through connectors.

Fiber end must be

Flat

Perpendicular to the fiber axis

Smooth

Techniques used are

Sawing

Grinding

Polishing

Controlled fracture

CONTROLLED FRACTURE
can be produced through this methodBased on Scribe and break
TECHNIQUE
(striping, cleaving, cleaning the end surface) method

Steps:
Fiber to be cleaved is first scratched
Fiber is the bent over a curved form

Highly smooth and perpendicular end faces

Requires a careful control of the curvature and the tension

Improperly controlled tension can cause multiple fracture and can leave a
lip or hackled portion

TYPES OF FIBER SPLICING

SPLICING

Fusion Splice

Mechanical Splice

FUSION SPLICING

It involves butting two cleaned fiber end faces &

heating them until they melt together (or) fuse.

It is accomplished by applying localized heating (e.g., by

a flame (or) electric arc)

Mostly electric arc is used because this source is easily

controllable

Produce very low splice losses

STEPS INVOLVED IN FUSION

SPLICING

CONTD.

The basic arc fusion technology which involves the

rounding of the fiber ends with a low energy discharge
before pressing the fibers together and fusion with a
stronger arc.

This technique is called as Prefusion

Fusion splicing is difficult in single mode fibers

Self alignment may occur

DRAWBACKS OF FUSION SPLICING

Heat necessary to fuse the fiber may weaken it

The tensile strength of the fused fiber may be as low as

30% of the uncoated fiber before fusion

Fiber fracture generally occurs in the heat affected zone

adjacent to the fused joint

MECHANICAL SPLICING

A number of methods are available for splicing of fibers

Tube

splicing (snug splicing)

V-groove

splicing

Elastomeric
Spring
Glass

groove splicing

capillary tubes for multimode fibers

Rotary

splicing

splice for single mode fibers

All these techniques seek to optimize the splice

performance (i.e., reduce insertion loss)

TUBE SPLICING
Glass (or) ceramic (or) capillary with an inner diameter
just large enough to hold the optical fiber is used.
Transparent adhesive (e.g., epoxy resin) is used to joint
the fiber
Loose tube splice uses a square section metal tube that
easily accepts the fiber
Sung splice has tolerance problems

V-GROOVE SPLICING

The splice is made permanent by securing the fibers in

the V-groove with epoxy resin
V-groove splices formed by sandwiching the butted
fiber ends between a V-groove glass plate & a flat glass
retainer plate.

ELASTOMERIC SPLICING (OR

The device TUBE)
ELASTIC
has 2 elastomeric internal parts,

one of

which has a V-groove

An outer sleeve holds the 2 elastic parts in compression
to ensure alignment of the fibers in the V-groove
The loss was 0.12dB

SPRING GROOVE SPLICING

It uses a bracket containing 2 cylindrical pins which

acts as an alignment guide for 2 prepared fiber end.
Cylindrical pin diameter is chosen to allow the fiber to
protrude above the cylinder
An elastic element (spring) is used to press the fiber
into the groove and maintain fiber end alignment of
epoxy resin

GLASS CAPILLARY TUBES (SECONDARY

ALIGNMENT)

Involves alignment of secondary element around base

fiber
Secondary alignment gives increased ruggedness
This technique is advantageous for fiber remountable
connectors

ROTARY SPLICE FOR SINGLE MODE

FIBERS

The same secondary alignment has been used in the

realization of low loss, single mode fiber
Fiber to be spliced are terminated in precision glass
capillary tube
UV curable adhesive is used to cement the fiber in the
glass tube

MULTIPLE SPLICES
Multimode & single mode fibers can be obtained by
multiple simultaneously fusion splicing of an array of
fiber in a ribbon cable.
A 12-fiber ribbon was prepared by scoring and breaking
method prior to pressing fiber ends on the contact
plate.

CONTD.
Electric arc fusion device is used to provide
simultaneous fusion
Splice loss
Multimode fiber 0.04dB to 0.12 dB
Single mode 0.04dB to 0.4dB
12 fibers are laid in trapezoidal grooves of silicon chip
using comb structure