END PREPARATION AND FUSION SPLICING OF AN OPTICAL FIBER ARRAY WITH A CO2-LASER

Mirror-finished end preparation and low-loss splicing of silica fiber arrays by means of a CO2 laser are demonstrated. Eight-fiber linear arrays of multimode fibers with 60-μm core diam and 150-μm outer diam were laser scribed and fractured, then butted and spliced with 3.0-W laser power output, 1.0-mm beam-spot diam, and 15-μm/sec fiber array driving speed. Average splice losses for 20× splicings (160 splices) in step- and graded-index fibers were 0.12 db and 0.10 dB, respectively. The air bubbles sometimes observed at the splicing point in fusion splices were avoided by preparing fiber ends with a laser-scribing method. © 1979 Optical Society of America.