Fibre Optic Splicing

         There are two methods of fibre optic splicing, fusion splicing & mechanical splicing. Mechanical splicing is usually carried out for emergency restorations whereas fusion splicing is done for permanent repairs of damaged cable or to connect the reels of cable during installation

Mechanical Splicing:

Mechanical splices are simply alignment devices, designed to hold the two fibre ends in a precisely aligned position thus enabling light to pass from one fibre into the other. (Typical loss: 0.3 dB)

Fusion Splicing:

Fusion splicing is the joining and fusing of two fibres by placing them between two electrodes, and discharging an electric arc over the fibres. This splice technique is non-reflective. Fusion splicing machine is used to precisely align the two fibre ends then the glass ends are "fused" together using electric arc. This produces a continuous connection between the fibres enabling lower loss and less back reflection than mechanical splicing because the resulting fusion splice points are almost seamless. (Typical loss: 0.1 dB)