Abstract

A new discharge-fusion method suitable for polarization-preserving fibers is proposed. This fusion method is based on restricting the melting region in the outer-cladding portion of the fiber. Restriction of the melting region is achieved by intermittent repetitions of shortened discharge durations. The optimum value of the discharge duration is found through observation of the melting region to be 0.2 s. It is also determined that polarization-preserving fibers can be spliced without deformation of the stress profile by using the intermittent discharge-fusion method. Also, a dominant cause of extinction-ratio decrease is investigated for the optimum fusion condition. As a result, it is indicated that one cause of extinction-ratio degradation after fusion is the geometrical angular misalignment of the birefringent axis.

© 1986 Optical Society of America

Fusion splicing of polarization preserving fibers

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