Effective glued connection between multimode polymer and silica optical fibers

This paper presents the technology of performing an effective glued connection between optical fibers made from silica (SOF) and polymer (POF) and a pair of polymer optical fibers (POF-POF). This study has been undertaken in order to establish the influence of cleaving for quality of fiber preparation (its cutting in particular), type of glue, as well as joint spot protection. The prototype of a hot cleaver of POF, made in Institute of Applied Physics MUT, was minimalized and adapted to a single use of blade. Matching geometry of connected structures was optimized by adjusting optical fibers to each other. The result of this research was to define particular distance between fibers. It turned out that the optimized distance amounts to 30 μm. Experiment showed that a joint made of optical glue has given loss of less than 0.2 dB. The next step was to involve protection of the mechanical joint. It turned out that glass capillary complies with the requirements. In order to confirm the effectiveness of the chosen glue connection, measurements of technical parameters on patch cords with MMF – POF and POF – POF connections were made. It was stated that SOF – POF connections can work within the range of -40°C + 60°C workable for humidity simulation without loss change. However, connections POF – POF are unstable with respect to temperature change. Modal characteristics of near- field were also observed.