Development of a new portable spherical mirror-finish processing machine for the fabrication of optical fiber connectors

A new portable processing machine that employs lapping tape to fabricate spherical mirror-finish surfaces on PC (Physical Contact) connectors has been developed. This machine is used for on-the-spot mirror-finish processing of optical fiber connector surfaces. The head of the machine has on its surface a depression, into which the connector end is pressed, with lapping tape between the head and the connector end. In tests on borosilicate glass ferrule optical fiber connectors, silicon carbide tape was used for the spherical processing, and cerium oxide tape was used for the mirror-finishing. It achieved a surface roughness of only 0.01μmRmax, and an average optical return loss of 50.2dB. In tests on zirconia ferrules, the finest spherical shaping was attained with SiC tape and diamond tape process. Silicon dioxide tape was used for the mirror-finishing, and it achieved an average return loss of 51.7dB. Utility examinations of the spherical mirror-finish processing machine for optical fiber connectors were carried out. 50 samples of the zirconia ferrule optical fiber connectors were processed by using SiC tape, diamond tape and SiO2 tape, and the processing sides were measured. The optical fiber connectors were made uniform in the spherical shape and the mirror-finish surface. The utility examination results of all items satisfied the specifications.