Elimination of the primary sources of measurement variability in single-mode fiber transmitted cutoff wavelength

It is shown that elimination of the two primary areas of cutoff measurement variability, sample deployment and transition structure, can dramatically improve the transmitted cutoff wavelength measurement repeatability. Careful control of the sample length and bend, both within the loop as well as outside the loop, are critical to obtaining reproducible results. Preventing the formation of transition structure can significantly improve the precision of the measurement, although the introduction of index matching or controlled microbending may be difficult to implement effectively on a routine basis