Development of Fiber-end-cap Fabrication Equipment

In this paper, we design and construct the equipment to manufacture large-diameter optical fiber end caps, which are the core parts of high-power fiber lasers, and we fabricate large-diameter optical fiber end caps using the home-made equipment. 'This equipment consists of a CO2 laser as a fusion-splice heat source, a precision stage assembly for transferring the position of a large-diameter optical fiber and an end cap, and a vision system used for alignment when the fission splice is interlocked with the stage assembly. The output of the laser source is interlocked with the stage assembly to control the output, and the equipment is manufactured to align the polarization axis of the large-diameter polarization-maintaining optical fiber with the vision system. Optical fiber end caps were manufactured by laser fusion splicing of a large-diameter polarization-maintaining optical fiber with a clad diameter of 400 mu m and an end cap of 10 x 5 x 2 mm(3) (W x D x H) using home-made equipment. Signal-light insertion loss, polarization extinction ratio. and beam quality M-2 of the fabricated large-diameter optical fiber end caps were measured to be 0.6%. 16.7 dB. and 1.21. respectively.

Automated summary

This paper presents the design and construction of equipment for manufacturing large-diameter optical fiber end caps, and the successful fabrication of these end caps using the home-made equipment. The quality of the fabricated large-diameter optical fiber end caps was tested and found to be within acceptable parameters.