All Silica, Low Energy Mechanical Fiber Splice for Fusion Replacement

Optical Fiber has revolutionized the communication industry in the last few decades. However, fiber to fiber connection technology still lags behind copper in both ease of reconnection and signal loss. Fusion of the fiber with active alignment is the most widely used technique for making fiber to fiber connection with the least amount of signal loss. However, all of the fusion methods utilize high energy methods to melt the glass to fuse the fibers together. A new technology is required for performing splices on aircraft such as the F-18 and new JSF in the presence of jet fuel and in the limited space available. Luna Innovations is proposing a low energy, chemical method of constructing an all silica splice for optical fibers. Luna will build prototype splices to demonstrate the key technology during Phase I and compare the performance to existing splice methods, mechanical and fusion, for volume required for splice construction, tensile strength, optical loss, and thermal cycle performance. A splicing system utilizing the chemical glass bond will be designed in Phase I and fully developed in Phase II. Prototype splices will be constructed and fully characterized and proven to meet the Navy's needs during Phase II.