Hot splices of optical waveguide fibers

Abstract

The application of optical waveguides in long lengths may require permanent joints (splices). The idea behind hot splices is simple and basic to glass: heat the fibers and fuse them together. This is accomplished by a small electric arc. A series of twenty splices of identical multimode fibers shows an average splice loss of 0.26 dB. Single mode fiber splices were also attempted, as well as a series of splices on different multimode fibers, and results are reported.