Optical fiber splicing

Splicing is the method of connecting two pieces of optical fiber. There are two types of splicing- mechanical splicing and fusion splicing. There are two types of splices- midspan and pigtail. End preparation is the first step in splicing. Here cable jacket, buffer tube and coating are stripped by using proper tools. After stripping, fiber ends are cleaved and then cleaned. In mechanical splicing, a clamp or an adhesive is used to establish optical contact between two fibers. Mechanical splicing is a high-precision splicing technique. Some mechanical splices use ultraviolet curing for adhesion. Mechanical splices are expensive and hence they are used in emergency repair where a small number of splices are required.  Fusion splicing involves the melting of fiber ends. Fusion splicing method is very much similar to conventional welding using arc. Fusion splicers are used for fusion splicing. A fusion splicer is a fully automated machine with a desk size apparatus which effectively controls the quality of splices during its operation. Both passive and active fiber alignment fusion splicers are available which offers zero reflection loss.