Fiber Optic Coupler Loss

Coupling loss in fiber optics refers to the power loss that occurs when coupling light from one optical device.

Fiber optic coupler loss. Because of space requirements couplers may be routed in a way that causes enough bend loss to exceed the maximum loss for the channel. Real world fiber optic splitters show uniform performance across the whole spectrum of interest from 1260 to 1600 nm. For example with a 1 x 2 fiber optic coupler each output is less than one half the power of the input signal over a 3 db loss. Thorlabs couplers are available from stock in one of four ratios.

The difference between active and passive couplers is that a passive coupler redistributes the optical signal without optical to electrical conversion. Continued use of standard couplers splitters in a bend insensitive glass environment can nullify the bend loss reduction. Fiber optic couplers can be either active or passive devices. Star couplers with up to 32 ports have been possible using fused tapered fiber 3 db couplers.

Guidelines on what loss to expect when testing fiber optic cables to be able to judge whether a fiber optic cable plant is good one does a insertion loss test with a light source and power meter and compares that to an estimate of what is a reasonable loss for that cable plant. 2x2 fused fiber optic couplers can split or mix light between two optical fibers with minimal loss and at a specified coupling ratio. Coupling loss also known as connection loss is the loss that occurs when energy is transferred from one circuit circuit element or medium to another coupling loss is usually expressed in the same units such as watts or decibels as in the originating circuit element or medium. Advantages are the low loss easy coupling with the optical fiber transmission line and no polarization dependent loss.

All of our fused fiber optic couplers are bidirectional meaning that all ports can be used as an input.