Low cost heat-and-pull rig for manufacturing adiabatic optical fiber tapers

Abstract

In this paper we report the fabrication of adiabatic tapered optical fibers using a low cost heat-and-pull rig. Our setup is based on the flame-brushing technique moving in zigzag, where an inexpensive and simple portable gas micro-torch is used as heating device. Since this method does not require an electronic system to control the gas flow rate, makes out taper rig an attractive alternative, low-cost, and trivial to implement. The feasibility of such a heat source is shown with the manufacture of low-loss tapers (< 0.12 dB/mm) and diameters in the micro range.