title: Carbon dioxide laser fabrication of fused-fiber couplers and tapers.
abstract: We report the development of a fiber taper and fused-fiber coupler fabrication rig that uses a scanning, focused, CO(2) laser beam as the heat source. As a result of the pointlike heat source and the versatility associated with scanning, tapers of any transition shape and uniform taper waist can be produced. Tapers with both a linear shape and an exponential transition shape were measured. The taper waist uniformity was measured and shown to be better than +/-1.2%. The rig was also used to make fused-fiber couplers. Couplers with excess loss below -0.1 dB were routinely produced.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK. tedimmick@aol.com
authors.forename: T E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Dimmick
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kakarantzas
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Birks
authors.forename: P S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Russell