Fabrication of polymer microfiber through direct drawing and splicing of silica microfiber via vapor spray and flame treatment

Abstract

We report a simple fabrication technique of polymer microfibers with high surface smoothness and length uniformity using a molten polymethylmethacrylate in conjunction with direct drawing technique. With the aid of fabricated polymer microfibers, we successfully demonstrate a new splicing technique via a two-step process. The fabricated microfibers with diameter of 1.5 μm and length of 3 mm have been used in splicing the silica microfibers based on solvent vapor spray and flame treatment process. We were able to obtain an average splicing loss of about −0.69  dB. Using the same technique, we also demonstrated splicing for ring resonators. The splicing technique demonstrated in this work promises high potential for robust optical integration of microfibers for various functional circuits and devices.