Measurement and Analysis of Loss in Optical Directional Couplers

Symmetric directional couplers are widely used in interferometers, switches, and various signal processing devices. Recently, several optical couplers using multimode fibers were reported, but these suffer from inefficient coupling of light into a branching fiber and/or low directivity. This paper presents the measurement and analysis of loss in the connection of optical fibers via the optical directional couplers. The functionality of the device is based on the principle that is symmetrical, the power in excited mode can be unambiguously directed into one of the output channel by varying and of its parameters. In this experiment, we measure the power of loss in the optical directional coupler at various radius of curvature. Before the measurement of loss in x-coupler, we polish the contact of the fiber surface in order that light can penetrate through another port. The results show that, when the radius of curvature is increased, the loss power is decreased and also approaches of the straight line case.