Splicing and handling of polarization maintained optical fibers in an electronics manufacturing environment

The demand for faster data transmission has been on the rise for the past few years. Copper cables were being used for these applications but drawbacks like cross talk and electromagnetic interference have restricted their use. This paper focuses on the important aspects pertaining to material handling for optical fibers during the splicing process and methods that can help obtain a good splice. The objective of the study was to provide a complete understanding of the basics of the fiber optic splicing operation and related reliability issues. General handling guidelines which would help obtain a good strength and low loss splice are presented. This paper presents a segment of a long-term project whose objective is to improve the splicing process for PANDA fibers during the assembly and the handling of optoelectronics assemblies.