Significant advances in optical fiber technology have created a need for an up-to-date book about optical fiber fusion splicing. Over the past 15 years, a variety of new optical fibers including rare-earth-doped fiber, dispersioncompensating fiber, dispersion-matched fiber pairs, and microstructured fiber have been introduced. These fibers are currently used extensively in both research and commercial applications. Fusion splicing of these fibers has a significant impact on their performance but the relevant technical information has hitherto only been accessible by sifting through numerous technical articles published over a span of several decades. This book consolidates this scattered knowledge base into one coherent reference source.

This text is intended to serve as a reference for an audience that is both diverse and rapidly growing. This audience includes academic researchers investigating the latest optical fiber technology, designers of commercial optical fiber, fiber splicing equipment engineers, and product development engineers designing optical fiber devices from commercially available components. Manufacturers of optical fiber, optical fiber components, optical fiber devices, and optical fiber splicers all require a sophisticated understanding of optical fiber fusion splicing.

Optical fiber fusion splicing is a multi-disciplinary topic that combines concepts from diverse fields including optical waveguide theory, heat transfer, materials science, mechanical engineering, reliability theory, fluid mechanics, and even image processing. This book is unique in that it includes rigorous analyses from all of these very diverse fields. Scientists and engineers interested in optical fiber splicing who have a background in one or two of these fields will benefit from relevant knowledge in an unfamiliar field.