Encircled Flux-based optimized simple launch condition for standardization of multimode polymer optical waveguide evaluations.

Multimode polymer optical waveguide evaluations by using a combination of multimode optical fibers (MMF) and Light Emitting Diode (LED) give very often inconsistent experimental result. It is due to the over-filled properties of the launch light created by this configuration. We propose an optimized simple launch configuration to overcome the problems by using similar configuration. The optimized launch configuration creates an optimal-filled launch light where its encircled flux (EF) profile satisfies the EF template provided by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). We have used the standard optical fibers and optical fiber adaptors to create the optimized simple launch configuration with high stability. Therefore, our proposed launch configuration is suitable for realizing a cost effective optimized launch configuration for standardization of multimode polymer optical waveguide evaluations. We demonstrated reliability of the proposed launch configuration by examining the reproducibility of the insertion loss (IL) measurements. We have used two waveguide samples that have different characteristics for this purpose. It was found that the insertion loss (IL) measurements of the two samples are consistent with the largest variation of less than 5%. This variation is better than the proposed value given by the IEC that is 10%.