Design and experimental verification of a novel optical fiber for the full ocean depth communication

Abstract

Micro optical fiber cable has been employed in the full ocean depth vehicle for scientific research, but the high performance of optical fiber requires to meet the demand of high water pressure resistant, large tension force, small bending radius and low loss attenuation. A new optical fiber with cladding-depressed profile was presented, and its attenuation property under high water pressure was simulated by finite element method. The optical fiber was fabricated based on the simulation and was tested by using a high pressure water tank. The experimental results show the additional attenuation change under the pressure of 127 MPa is almost to zero, which is consistent with the simulated result, thus demonstrating the feasibility of designed optical fiber for the full depth ocean research.