There is provided a multi-clad fiber assembly for reducing and eliminating deleterious laser-contaminant interrelations, and methods of making these assemblies. There is provided an optical connector having contaminants that are shielded from causing detrimental thermal effects, during laser beam transmittion, by preventing laser-contaminant interactions.

A fiber optic connector is spliced to an optical fiber provided by a sheathed optical fiber and an optical fiber pigtail. The connector houses a protective sleeve that secures the splice area from damage due to movement of optical fibers during connecter use. The protective sleeve retains the sheathed optical fiber at a first end and secures the protective sleeve to a distal end of a ferrule flange assembly at a second end.

The present disclosure describes an optical fiber splice closure for joining two fiber optic cables. The optical fiber splice closure comprises a strain relief assembly that securely holds the two fiber optic cables being connected, and an enclosure that houses the strain relief assembly. The configuration of the strain relief assembly allows for securing the two fiber optic cables in a compact space, thus permitting a compact enclosure of the optical fiber splice closure, while also providing quick and easy installation in the field. A method of installing fiber optic cables using the optical fiber splice closure is also disclosed. The optical fiber splice closure and ease of installation also facilitates repairing damaged fiber optic cable. A method of repairing existing fiber optic cable is disclosed.

A method for evaluating the optical insertion loss of a mechanical splice joint of two optical fibers with a laser source includes, upon initiation by a user, automatically performing the steps of: checking for ambient light, estimating the level of noise by analyzing an area of a sensor that is not illuminated by external sources and setting a noise threshold, checking self-alignment by taking a foreground image of the joint with the laser source turned on and one with it turned off, subtracting the images to obtain a resultant image, setting all pixels with levels below the noise threshold to zero, selecting a region of interest of the joint, computing a centroid and a width of the resultant image based on the region of interest, estimating a tilt and if the tilt is above a certain threshold, compensating for the tilt, and processing the resultant image.

Examples disclosed herein illustrate systems and methods to determine and evaluate the quality of mechanical splices of optical fibers using insertion loss estimation. In at least some of the disclosed systems and methods, an optical fiber termination system may include a reference fiber coupling a light source and a stub fiber of a fiber optic connector, a digital camera sensor and lens to capture images of scattered light emanating from a portion of the fiber optic connector and a portion of the reference fiber both in a field of view (FOV) of the digital camera sensor, and a processor. The processor may analyze digital images of scatter light emitted from at least a portion of the fiber optic connector and the reference fiber to estimate insertion loss at the fiber optic connector.

A splice module includes a main splicing channel and a rework channel. The main splicing channel has an encapsulated section at which one or more initial splices can be stored. The main splicing channel also includes a non-encapsulated section through which trunk cable fibers of the initial splices extend. If re-splicing is needed, the trunk cable fibers can be accessed at the non-encapsulated section, cut, and re-spliced to a new connectorized pigtail or other optical fibers.

A method for making a connection between an end of a first composite rod (10) and an end of a second composite rod (10) comprises removing material from an outer surface of the composite material surrounding optical fibre (11) adjacent an end of the first and second composite rods (10, 20) to form at least one shoulder on each of the first and second composite rods (10, 20); connecting the optical fibres (11) between the first and second composite rods (11); clamping the ends of the first and second composite rods within two clamp devices (40) such that the shoulders of the first and second composite rods (10, 20) engage with shoulders of the clamp devices (40); connecting the clamp devices (40); and bonding the first and second composite rods (10, 20) to the first and second clamp devices (40).

A cleaving mechanism (20) and related method is adapted to cleave an optical fiber (10) and thereby produce a cleaved end on the optical fiber. The cleaving mechanism (20) includes a fixture (40), a cleave tool (60) for cleaving the optical fiber, and a clamp assembly (80). The clamp assembly (80) may hold the optical fiber without substantial twisting of the optical fiber (10). The fixture and/or the clamp assembly (80) may include a pair of leaf springs (92) that contact and bend around the optical fiber (10) to secure the optical fiber (10) in a clamped position.

A terminus for a fiber optic cable has a ferrule with a fiber stub secured in a channel of the ferrule. The fiber stub has a polished forward end face. The fiber stub extends from a rearward end of the ferrule so that a rearward end face of the fiber stub is rearwardly spaced from the ferrule. An alignment member is axially aligned with the ferrule and has a channel extending between forward and rearward ends of the alignment member. The channel includes a fiber alignment portion in which the rearward end face of the fiber stub is received. The fiber alignment portion is statically configured to receive a forward end face of the filament of the fiber optic cable in opposed relationship to the rearward end face of the fiber stub and axially align the faces to each other.

According to the connection device, the connection method, the optical connector manufacturing device, and the method for manufacturing an optical connector, rotation alignment of an MCF becomes unnecessary because an image of an end surface of the MCF to be connected is captured, the position of the core is located, and an optical waveguide is formed on a substrate so as to match the position. Thus, it is possible to solve the problem of increasing loss or complex connection work caused by rotational misalignment in association with rotation alignment.