Method of splicing ends of optical fibers

摘要

A small amount of light that is transmitted in one of a pair of optical fibers having cleaved ends thereof loosely brought into butt contact is converted to leaky modes in the other fiber. Leaky mode light that is radiated out of the perimeter of the other fiber is collected in an integrating enclosure located proximate its one end and extending over a limited length of the other fiber. The light in the enclosure is detected for producing a measure of the degree of alignment of the adjacent ends of the fibers. After the cleaved ends of the fibers are aligned with micromanipulators so as to null the intensity of detected leaky mode radiation, an electrical arc is created across them for permanently joining the fiber ends together in a splice. The integrity of the resultant splice is determined by producing a measure of the splice loss 10 log (1-PR/PO), where PR is a measure of light scattered from the splice and/or radiated out of the perimeter of the leaky mode section of the other fiber for light of a radiant power PO in the one fiber and incident on the splice.