Performance analysis of CO2 laser polished angled ribbon fiber

Abstract

This paper demonstrates CO2 laser assisted simultaneous polishing of angled ribbon fibers consisting eight set of optical fibers. The ribbon fibers were rotated vertically at an angle of 12° and polished by repetitive irradiation of CO2 laser beam at the end faces of the fibers. Compared to mechanically polished sharp edged angled fibers, CO2 laser polishing forms curve edged angled fibers. Increase in the curvature of the end faces of the ribbon fibers causes the increase of the fibers’ strength, which in turn represents great robustness against fiber connections with other devices. The CO2 laser polished angled fibers have great smoothness throughout the polished area. The smoothness of the fiber end faces have been controlled by varying the number of laser irradiation. After CO2 laser polishing, the average value of the fiber angle of the ribbon fibers is ∼8.28°. The laser polished ribbon fibers show low insertion and return losses when connecting with commercial optical communication devices. The proposed technique of polishing the angled ribbon fibers is highly replicable and reliable and thus suitable for commercial applications. © 2016 Elsevier Inc.