Abstract

Fused fiber couplers ^1,2 made with polarization-preserving, high-birefringent fiber have received great interest because of their low-cost fabrication potential and their application for optical polarization control in fiber-optic sensors. To date most laboratories that have attempted the fabrication of these devices have experienced mixed success in terms of achieving a reproducible fabrication process. Our experience has been that devices can be fairly readily made with some fiber samples², but that insertion loss reaches unacceptable levels (>>1dB) with other fiber samples.

© 1988 Optical Society of America