Red Bank, New Jersey-based Bell Communications Research Inc, Bellcore, the research laboratory serving the US Baby Bells, reckons an experimental prototype device it has developed can enhance the quality of future fibre optic networks by improving the point at which fibres are joined together. The palm-sized device, a mechanical cleaver, says the organisation, cuts fibre in a way that enables more accurate splices to be made in a more cost-effective manner and more reliably than current technology enables. Current equipment produces fibre with flat ends that reflect light back into the fibre. Modern technology can join fibres either by fusion together by creating an electric arc that melts the two ends to form one continuous fibre – a method which, while producing high quality splices causing little or no reflections, requires machines costing several thousand dollars which must be used in a controlled physical environment; or by cheap mechanical means, which are less reliable. A fluid-type material is used in conjunction with the clamp in today’s butted joints to reduce light reflectance but the material is vulnerable to temperature variations. Light reflectance can adversely affect the performance of the finished splice when the fibres are joined this way. If the optical fibre is cleaved at an 80o angle, instead of 90o, and spliced mechanically, the light reflectance is substantially reduced and the result is comparable to a fusion splice. The angled cleave also reduces the cable’s susceptibility to temperature changes. The BellCore cleaver, the laboratory reckons, could probably be mass produced by a commercial vendor for under $100. BellCore has developed only one laboratory prototype, and has offered to license the technology to manufacturers. Two patent applications on its design have been filed.
