Anallysis of thermal conditions in CO(2) laser splicing of optical fibers.

Heat conduction in optical fibers during CO(2) laser splicing is analyzed, taking into account the Gaussian profile of the laser power density distribution. Expressions for temperature in optical fibers are derived as a function of time, position, and beam radius. The minimum required laser power is calculated for various beam radii and compared with the experimental results. Typical combinations of laser beam parameters required to achieve good splices of silica fibers with approximately 150-microm o.d. are 500-microm beam radius and 3-W beam power.