ABSTRACT
The chapter presents common assembly techniques that are used in building fibre-optic connectors. They are common fibre-connector assembly and hot-melt connectors assembly. The chapter presents the operating principles of the connectors and splices, and describes their types, properties and operations. It also discusses four experimental cases for building a connection between two fibre-optic cables: linking two fibre cables by connectors and a fusion splice and testing the connection for losses. Fibre connectors are designed to be easily connected and disconnected. Fibre-optic cable can be easily connected to a transmitter, receiver, power metres or another fibre cable. The key optical parameter for a fibre-optic connector is its attenuation. Signal attenuation in connectors is the sum of losses caused by several factors. The major factors are as follows: overlap of fibre cable cores, alignment of fibre axes, fibre cable numerical aperture, reflection at the fibre cable junction/interface, connector-end polishing, fibre-cable spacing, connector end face profiles, and insertion loss.
