Analysis of changes in optical fibers during arc-fusion splicing by use of quantitative phase imaging

✍ Scribed by N.M. Dragomir; E. Ampen-Lassen; G.W. Baxter; P. Pace; S.T. Huntington; P.M. Farrell; A.J. Stevenson; A. Roberts

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 251 KB
• Volume: 69
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1059-910X
• DOI: 10.1002/jemt.20357

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

A non‐interferometric imaging technique in conjunction with Abel inversion is used to directly and quantitatively examine the changes in optical fibers due to the heating produced during arc‐fusion splicing as a function of fusion arc parameters. Phase images in the vicinity of a fusion splice are obtained using Quantitative Phase Microscopy, allowing the refractive‐index change to be reconstructed with high spatial resolution. This simple, nondestructive method confirms that, for a fixed arc current, while the fusion time increases, the refractive‐index of both fiber cores within the fusion region decreases in magnitude, the core region broadens, and the axial gradient decreases. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.