Low-Reflection Polish for Ferrule-Based Mechanical Splices and Straight-Tip Connectors

Index matching studies for single ferrules show greatly reduced end-face reflections for a CeO sub 2 polishing procedure. This procedure reduces single-mode splice and connector reflections by more than 15 dB. Reflectances from standard polish Rotary splices in the field average -40 dB and reflectances from original polish ST connectors averaged -27 dB. These reflection levels cause no system degradation in one-way fiber optic digital transmission systems. Future bidirectional transmission and analog video systems will require lower reflectances, perhaps -35 dB, respectively.