Practical application of the refracted near-field technique for the measurement of optical fibre refractive index profiles

Both the theoretical basis and experimental realization of the refracted near-field technique for the direct measurement of optical fibre profiles are presented. The technique requires minimal sample preparation, no computation and is applicable to both single and multimode fibres. Both the core and the cladding are profiled. After outlining the problems associated with other techniques, the use of this method for the measurement of fibre profile, numerical aperture and geometry is discussed. Leaky mode rejection and resolution are treated in detail. A fitting procedure for determining the-value of a profile is given. The experimental apparatus is fully discussed. Results are presented to illustrate both the applicability of the technique to single and multimode fibres and also the rejection of leaky modes. The experimental sensitivity is shown sufficient to reveal an index fluctuation having a wavelength < 1m and an amplitude of < 0.0001.