Field Assembly Splice Technique With Solid Refractive Index Matching Material

Solid refractive index matching material enables us to splice fiber with air holes as well as conventional single-mode fiber. In this paper, we report our study of the applicability of solid refractive index matching material to a field assembly splice technique. We investigate pressing force and bending loss characteristics as a function of fiber buckling experimentally. We also investigate the impact of the hardness of the solid material on the splice loss characteristics of the field assembly splice technique. Then we derive appropriate splice conditions for both the hardness of the solid material and fiber buckling. Finally, we confirm the validity of the derived splice condition by using a single-mode hole assisted fiber.