Estimation of Splice loss in Photonic Crystal Fibers

A great deal of interest has been generated in Photonic Crystal Fibers (PCF) due to its unique propagation characteristics as it offers single mode operation in a wide wavelength range, large mode field diameter and manageable dispersion properties. PCFs are single material optical fibers with a periodic array of air holes running down the length of fiber. The arrangement and spacing of air holes provide freedom to tailor the dispersion properties for telecom applications. Therefore PCFs are expected to be integrated with the existing optical fiber technology. As a result, splicing characteristics of PCF with conventional single mode fiber or with PCF of different air hole spacings, is needed to be evaluated. In this paper, we report the analytical techniques and simulation for the estimation of Splice Loss of PCF with PCF of different geometry and with conventional fiber. Variation of Splice loss due to normalized transverse offset of two PCFs for different ratios of air hole spacing is obtained. It is observed that the splice loss depends on air hole spacing of PCF and V-value of conventional fibers.