title: A mechanical criterion for the design of readily cleavable microstructured optical fibers.
abstract: Some complex microstructured fibers (MSFs) are well known to produce poor-quality cleaves or even to break at cleavage. But to find widespread use in photonics technology, MSFs will have to be easily cleavable using mechanical cleavers, since more sophisticated techniques add complexity. In this paper, the very different, yet reproducible cleavage patterns of three high air-fraction, double-clad microstructured fibers are analyzed. Fracture faces reveal the fracture propagation paths and provide measurements of the fracture lengths in the intercapillary bridges. These lengths prove to be always shorter than the critical fracture length predicted by fracture mechanics. A criterion based on critical fracture length is thus proposed to design cleavage-robust MSFs.
authors.affiliation: Département de génie électrique, Ecole de technologie supérieure, 1100 Notre-Dame Ouest, Montréal (Québec), H3C 1K3, Canada. vfrancois@ele.etsmtl.ca
authors.forename: Véronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: François
authors.forename: Seyed Sadreddin
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Aboutorabi
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D004867:Equipment Design; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008904:Miniaturization; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D055100:Optical Fibers; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012542:Scattering, Radiation