Optical fiber fusion splicing method

摘要

An exposed part of at least one of two optical fibers with different mode field distributions to be fusion spliced is heated by a burner, to thereby continuously vary its mode field distribution in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber, and the exposed end part of at least one of the optical fibers is cleaved so that the mode field distributions at the splice end faces of the two optical fibers to be fusion spliced are substantially coincident with each other in configuration, the two optical fibers are fusion spliced, whereby low splice loss is realized. Thereafter, the heated portion of the optical fiber is subjected to a surface treatment by etching process using a hydrofluoric acid solution, whereby a deterioration of its mechanical strength is prevented. <IMAGE>