The two bare fiber ends are fused
by heat in the fusion splicing process with fiber splicer. To be
more specific, a little space is left between the fiber ends when they are
originally brought into close contact. They are pressed together such that the
ends fuse after being heated for a brief period until the surfaces melt. High-voltage
electric discharges are frequently used to achieve heating.
Characteristics of Fusion Splicers
Typically, equipment producing
high-quality fusion splices will contain the following characteristics:
- Precision anchoring of the fiber ends is
made possible by carefully designed fiber clamps. Micrometer screws are
used to accurately adjust at least one clamp.
- It is further required to spin one of the
fibers about its axis when splicing polarization-maintaining fibers or
multi-core fibers.
- Examining the fiber ends' alignment and
quality are possible under a microscope. A knob for alternating between
two orthogonal directions of view is frequently included. Usually, the
fiber cores are also visible.
- Without touching the fibers, one can clean
the surfaces by using a fiber cleaner.
Several unique qualities:
- A camera picture or the monitoring of the
optical power throughput may be used by some splicers to automatically
align the fibers. For the latter, a photodetector must be coupled to one
fiber end and a light source to the other.
- The effectiveness of the resultant splice
may also be measured by some instruments.
- While some fusion splicers are designed
specifically for use with common telecom fibers, others may work with a
wider variety of fibers, such as those with different cladding widths.
- Some tools simply provide a better level of
precision, which is necessary, for example, to splice fibers for space
division multiplexing.
Gains from Fusion Splicing
Fusion splicing provides several
important benefits over other methods for creating fiber junctions, including
the following:
- Nothing else offers lesser reflections and
smaller transition losses.
- The resultant joints are extremely stable,
requiring little alignment maintenance and being impervious to the effects
of dust.
- The only component or material needed is to
cover the fiber after splicing.
For outdoor fiber cables, fusion splices are frequently used. In factories, reliable fiber-optic equipment like fiber lasers and amplifiers are also created via fusion splicing. fiber stripper is also a useful tool.
