Polymer Optical Fiber Coupler Fabrication using Chemical Etching and Lapping Technique

Development of a polymer optical coupler using lapping technique integrated with contact mechanics and couple mode theory is proven where the initial procedure of fabrication is explained. Procedure of the fabrication includes etching process where a harmless chemical solvent, acetone, is used in order to remove the cladding layers gradually in accordance to the etching rate. The exposed region of the core is then aligned with another similar strand of fiber. The bending radii or bending angle is determined using particular size of circular blocks. Several experiments using different etched rate fibers attached to circular blocks having the same radii is demonstrated to investigate the output power and insertion losses of the developed coupler. Although in this initial study, the measurement parameters values shows unattractive results, however, the fabrication of couplers using this lapping technique is proven.