Development of in-line controlled reflectance in fiber by fusion splicing

在电信行业中用于监测和控制光纤网络的光学测量和测试系统通常集成内部低反射率参考。现有的解决方案包括使用耦合到系统的具有限定衰减（并且因此具有一定长度）的衰减光纤，以提供要用作参考的已知反射率。这种方法的主要缺点是它缺乏紧凑性，因为定义反射率的多个参考必须集成到一个单一的轻便和轻量级的代码中。本项目的目标是用一种更简单的方法取代目前的方法，从而产生更紧凑、更轻、更稳定和更节能的设备。所采用的制造方法必须简单，易于在工业中实施，并且必须依赖于标准的制造方法和仪器。EXFO进行的初步实验显示了一种新型纤维组件制造工艺的潜力。将进行进一步的研究，以更好地了解在其加工过程中发生在光纤内的潜在机制，并将其与其性能相关联，并开发制造工艺，以实现光纤组件目标特征的微调。

The optical measurement and test systems used in the telecom industry to monitor and control the optical fibernetworks generally integrate internal low reflectance references. Existing solutions consist in using anattenuating fiber of defined attenuation (and thus of a certain length) coupled to the system to provide a knownreflectivity to be used as reference. The main drawback of this approach is its lack of compactness becausemultiple references of defined reflectance have to be integrated into one single portative and lightweightinstrument. The objective of this project is to replace the current method by a simpler approach leading to amore compact, light, stable and energy-effective device. The method of fabrication to be employed must besimple to be readily implemented in the industry and must rely on standard fabrication approaches andinstruments. Preliminary experiments carried out by EXFO have shown the potential of a novel fibercomponent fabrication process. Further studies will be conducted to better understand the underlyingmechanisms occurring within the fiber during its processing and correlate them with its performance and todevelop the fabrication process to enable a fine tuning of the fiber component targeted features.