Fusion Splicing and Testing of Photonic Crystal Fibers

Properties of two different photonic crystal fibers (PCF) were characterized, enabling comparisons. Properties investigated included spectral attenuation, polarization mode dispersion (PMD), optical time domain reflectometer characteristics, elastooptic factor describing transmission delay induced by axial strain plus effects of temperature cycling and fiber twist on PMD and loss. In particular, temperature and twist dependence of PMD was different for each fiber tested. For optical measurements, fibers were fusion spliced to pigtails with standard telecom single mode fibers. PCF splicing procedures and solutions adopted to minimize collapse of holes during arc fusion and splice loss are presented. It was found that fusion splicing procedure must be individually tailored to each combination of fibers.