Types of Fiber Joints

Optical fibers can be joined together, such that light is efficiently transferred from one fiber to another. There are various possibilities:

• Mechanical splicing means that two fiber ends are tightly hold together with some mechanical means. That is usually done for permanent connections, but it may be possible to dismantle a splice without spoiling the fiber ends.

• Another technique is fusion splicing, where the fibers are fused together, e.g. using an electrical arc. This leads to particularly low insertion loss and high return loss, if the two fiber cores are similar.

• For non-permanent connections, one can also use fiber connectors (see below).

Figure 1 Microscope imagine of a fusion splice

Figure 1 is the microscope imagine of a fusion splice between a photonic crystal fiber (PCF, left side) and a conventional fiber (right side). The hole pattern of the PCF can be seen.

Fiber connectors are often used at the ends of fiber cables in order to provide non-permanent connections between fiber-coupled devices. In principle, they are used in a similar manner as electrical connectors. However, their use typically requires some more care, because fiber ends are relatively sensitive, and because fiber connectors are not always easy to attach to a fiber end.

SC fast connector

Note that even a tiny particle of dust on the fiber core can cause substantial losses. (Therefore, one often protects a fiber connector with a dust cap during times when it is not plugged in.) Also, small imperfections of a fiber end may lead to a small air gap between the fiber ends, which cause reflection losses.

A great variety of fiber connectors has been developed, e.g. for applications in optical fiber communications. Some common types are ST, FC, SC and LC connectors. The different connectors types differ in various aspects, e.g. in terms of cost, size, ease of use, insertion loss and return loss, suitable fiber size, allowed number of mating cycles, suitability for multimode, single-mode and polarization-maintaining fibers and various other details.

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