Fusion splice techniques for multicore fibers

Fusion splice techniques for multicore fibers (MCFs) are discussed here. We demonstrate a swing electrode system for uniform discharge and an end-view function for automatic and precise core alignment. The influence of the cleaved angle was investigated for stable and low-loss fusion splicing. Using these techniques, we achieved a low-loss splicing of not greater than 0.3 dB at all cores for a 32-core fiber and for all modes for a 2-LP-mode 12-core fiber, in which a precise core alignment and a uniform discharge of wide range were required. These results indicate that the techniques we proposed are promising for fusion splicing of MCFs.