Abstract

An experimental optical fiber (fiberguide) system has been designed by Bell Laboratories to evaluate applicability of fiberguide communications to interoffice trunking. The system employs a 1.3-cm o.d. sheathed and protected cable, containing over 100 multimode graded-index fibers, which is terminated in a mass cable splice. The cable made for the experiment was over 1 km in length. It was cut to a length of a little over 600 m, commensurate with the length of the available duct run, and successfully pulled into standard plastic underground ducts at Bell Labs, Atlanta. The fibers are of germania-doped borosilicate made by Western Electric using a modified CVD process.

© 1976 Optical Society of America