Abstract
An important parameter of interest to optical fiber cable manufacturers is the level of fiber strain affecting both optical loss and service lifetime. In many cable designs the first operation to which primary coated fiber is subjected is an extrusion coating typically to 1.00-mm diameter. Estimates of the strain induced by this critical process have been made using strain-sensitive wire as a fiber substitute.1 Here we report the first direct on-line measurements of strain induced in a fiber during an extrusion coating process. The technique used is based on Ref. 2. Essentially light from an 860-nm semiconductor cw laser modulated at 277.777 MHz is launched through a fiber tail butt-jointed to the freshly coated fiber end. The signal returned by a reflection from a mirror grown on the takeoff reel end, back through the coated end, is received by an A PD at the launching optics, using a beam-splitting arrangement.
© 1981 Optical Society of America
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