SPLICE LOSS: ESTIMATED VALUE VERSUS OTDR MEASUREMENT Dwi Bayuwati, Tomi Budi Waluyo, Imam Mulyanto Research Centre for Physics, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (PPF – LIPI) Kawasan PUSPIPTEK, Serpong – Tangerang, Indonesia 15314 Tel. (021) 7560570, Fax. (021) 7560554, E-mail: [email protected]
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SPLICE LOSS: ESTIMATED VALUE VERSUS
OTDR MEASUREMENT
Dwi Bayuwati, Tomi Budi Waluyo, Imam Mulyanto Research Centre for Physics, Indonesian Institute of Sciences
(PPF – LIPI)Kawasan PUSPIPTEK, Serpong – Tangerang, Indonesia 15314
• It is desired and sometime becoming a prerequisite to have a low loss when splicing optical fibers
•Nowadays various modern optical fiber fusion splicers are usually programmable, packed with data base of various optical fiber types, and capable to estimate the splice loss.
• This estimated value could guide the operator in determining whether the splice is good or needs resplicing but care must be taken because it can mislead if the actual fiber parameters are different with that available in the data base.
• In this paper we will discuss comparison between the estimation splice loss with the one obtained using OTDR measurement.
The Man Behind The Gun
INPUT
OUTPUTdBlosssplice log10][
22
2
22
2exp
2log10
BA
d
BA
AB
1
2
2
1
2
1log20)(
MFD
MFD
MFD
MFDdBinlosssplice
Table 1. Splicing different type optical fibers (Fujikura withPirelli).
No. Fusion Program Estimation Loss
OTDR Measured
Loss
Comment(s)
1 01: SM (Default program for splicing standard single mode fiber)
0.01 dB (-)0.115 dB Minus sign means a “gainer” phenomenon when using OTDR
2 36: FLSM(Fusion program for splicing Pirelli Freelight fiber and standard single mode fiber)
0.1 dB (-)0.054 dB
3 01: SM 0.77 dB 0.854 dB
4 36: FLSM 0.13 dB 0.197 dB
5 37: FLW(Fusion program for splicing Pirelli Freelight fiber and Lucent True Wave RS fiber)
N/A N/A Visual Error. The splicer refuses to automatically splicing the fiber.
6 01: SM 0.02 dB (-)0.202 dB
Table 2. Splicing similar optical fibers (Fujikura with Fujikura).
No. Fusion Program Estimation Loss(dB)
OTDR MeasuredLoss (dB)
Comment(s)
7 Mode 01: SM 0.02 dB 0.073 dB
8,9,10
Mode 05,Mode 06,Mode 07
N/A(Visual Error)
N/A Fusion program for splicing Lucent True Wave RS fibers, Corning Leaf fibers, and Corning MetroCor fibers; respectively.
11 Mode 15 ATTN 5.07 dB 6.157 dB Fusion program for splicing with 5 dB attenuation
12 Mode 01: SM 0.02 dB 0.106 dB
Our experiment shows that it is important to choose an appropriate fusion program which is suitable with the parameters (such as mode field diameter, refractive index profile, fiber core diameter, etc.) of the to be spliced optical fiber. If we choose the default fusion program for standard single mode fiber, the measured loss could be ten times higher than the estimated value.
This indicates that the fusion program available in the machine is not suitable for the Fujikura fiber we have
so that we should program the machine by ourselves to obtain a low splice loss (less than 0.1 dB)
In conclusion, the estimation splice loss is comparable with the measured one only if the actual fiber parameter is similar with that stored in the data base so that we should select the right fusion program or, much better, we program the splicing condition (such as arc cleaning time, arc duration, prefuse time, arc power, etc.) by ourselves which is suitable with our available optical fibers.