Abstract

The use of a loose-tube buffer in a fiber cable effectively decouples the fiber and thereby, in principle, avoids the cabling increment of attenuation found in other cable types. However, we have consistently observed a significant and sometimes substantial increase in attenuation in loose-tube cables on removing the cable from its shipping reel. In one extreme case the attenuation of a 1-km single-fiber cable increased from 4.0 to 10.3 dB.¹ The effect seems to be due to the excess length of fiber incorporated into the structure to compensate for the incomplete strain relief provided by the strength members. Variations of temperature, not surprisingly, also produce a dramatic effect on these cables, presumably due to differential expansion or contraction of the fiber and other cable members.²

© 1981 Optical Society of America