Novel Optical Fiber Cables With Ultrahigh Density

This paper proposes ultrahigh-density optical fiber cables that use 0.25-mm diameter primary-coated optical fibers with a low-bending loss. These cables have great advantages in terms of cable weight and diameter and will be easy to install in a small space in underground ducts and on residential and business premises. Optical fiber with the optimum low-bending loss is selected experimentally to obtain optical fiber cables with the maximum fiber density. 100-, 200-, and 1000-fiber cables were obtained with fiber densities of over 2.5, 2.7, and 5.0 fibers/mm² and cable diameters of 7.0, 9.6, and 15.8 mm, respectively. The transmission, mechanical and mid-span access characteristics of these cables and the fiber jointing characteristics were confirmed to be excellent.