A New G.

652D, Zero Water Peak Fiber Optimized for Low Bend Sensitivity in Access Networks
Fengqing Wu, Dave Peckham, Ron Smith, Jason Pedder, Pete Weimann, Stefan Jost, Tim Goddard, Peng Wang, Jim Hartpence, Jinkee Kim, Kelvin Bradley, Robert Lingle, Jr., William Hatton, Eric Barish and David Mazzarese
OFS Norcross GA

Abstract
As fiber is pushed closer to the home in FTTx networks, new requirements are being placed on the robustness of fiber in deployment and field handling conditions. In particular, improvements in macro and microbending sensitivities are critical for an optical fiber designed for use in access applications. These demanding specifications have led to development of a new bend insensitive (BI) optical fiber optimized for access networks. This new fiber provides low bending loss at tight bends with full spectrum, zero water peak (ZWP) performance. All properties are near the center of the ITU G.652D specification for seamless interoperability with existing networks. The new fiber offers the first industry specification at 20mm bending diameter, with values less than 0.2/0.5 dB per turn at 1550/1625 nm. Typical 20mm bending diameter values are less than 0.05/0.1 dB/turn at 1550/1625 nm. Microbending sensitivity is reduced by half compared to standard G.652D fiber.

can cause bit errors or reliability problems associated with burned fiber coatings. We first address what bending losses are and where they occur in the access network. This is followed by a discussion of the ways in which bending loss can be controlled in fiber design. It is shown that a proven and widely deployed fiber design can be adapted to best-in-class manufacturing technology to provide an optimized bend insensitive fiber. An intuitive electromagnetic model is briefly introduced to give insight into the interplay between fiber design and macrobending loss. Several examples demonstrating the advantages of using bend insensitive fiber to solve practical problems in cable design, jumpers, and fiber management.

2. Bend Insensitive Fiber Requirements

Designing a bend insensitive fiber for the demanding cable applications of todays access network necessitated combining the benefits of zero water peak fibers for full spectrum operation with the proven bend-insensitive benefits of the original Bell Labs single mode fiber design. The design requirements considered essential for a bend insensitive fiber are given below: provide best-in-class geometry for splicing and connections, maintain ZWP, stabilized against hydrogen aging, use of synthetic silica for reliability, provide low PMD, stable when cabled, all properties well within the G.652D fiber standard, hold the mode field diameter (MFD) close to the center of the ITU G.652 range for full compatibility with the embedded base with respect to splicing performance, maintain or improve the already very low bending losses for large radii bending (100 turns at diameter D = 60, 50 microns) Improve critical bending losses for tight bends (D < 30 mm diameter), adding a new industry specification at D = 20mm, improve microbending performance by at least a factor of two,

Keywords: Bend Insensitivity, Singlemode, G.652D, Full

Spectrum

1. Introduction
The advent of Fiber-to-the Home (FTTH) technology has ushered in a new era in optical fiber, cable, component and system design. As fiber is pushed toward the home, optical fibers are being deployed in distribution cabinets and end-user terminals that must be smaller than ever before. Fiber installation may be done by craft that are accustomed to installing copper or simply be outsourced to less experienced and less quality-conscious contractors. The desire to save expensive duct space by deploying higher fiber counts in small cross-sectional area cables is a related development. Microcables must shrink further in diameter, while drop cables, blown fiber units, and jumpers are being deployed in hand-holes and fiber management systems with smaller footprints. Alternative rights-of-way in utility pipe, aerial applications or shared-use utility infrastructure are also actively being pursued. Maintaining low optical loss in these demanding applications requires that fiber have a high tolerance to bending and stress. In cabinets and terminals, it is critical that small radius bends (intended or not) do not raise optical loss above allowed limits. This article describes how carefully designed and manufactured optical fibers with enhanced bending resistance can solve these problems while remaining fully compliant with the strict ITU G.652.D gold standard for seamless integration into carrier networks. Specific attributes include full spectrum availability, low polarization mode dispersion, excellent reliability, excellent geometry and great bend performance. Beyond access applications, this fiber provides the ideal ZWP jumper for 10 and 40 Gb/s DWDM and Raman amplified systems where tight bends

3. How can bending losses be controlled in fiber design?

Electromagnetically, macrobending occurs because bends allow the normally guided fundamental mode in the optical fiber to couple to what are known as radiation modes. A full description of macrobending is extremely mathematically detailed, but simple pictures are available. First, we consider that light is guided in a fiber because the index of refraction in the core n1 is slightly greater (about 1/3 of one percent) than that in the cladding glass n2. This is illustrated in Figure 1. The guided, fundamental mode

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of light propagation can be characterized by a so-called effective guide index [Buck95, p72] which has a numerical value between the indices of refraction of the core and cladding materials, n2 < neff < n1. It is in fact required that the effective index be greater than the cladding index for light to be confined in the core of the fiber. It is important to note that a small amount of optical power propagates in the cladding in the exponentially decaying tail of the optical electric field at radii far from the core.

offered commercially with a nominal MFD of 8.6 um also has ZDW between 1300 and 1334nm. This fiber design is thus noncompliant with strict ITU G.652 requirements of an upper ZDW limit of 1324nm. Further, reduction of MFD beyond some limit raises problems for splice compatibility between a bend insensitive fiber and the installed base.

4. Fiber Design for G.652 Bend Insensitive Fiber

One way to improve macrobend performance over matched clad singlemode fiber design is to lower the index of the cladding immediately surrounding the core of the fiber. This design is often called a depressed clad (DC) singlemode fiber. Using the DC bend insensitive design offers specific advantages when optimizing a fiber for low bending losses, especially at tight radii D < 30mm, while preserving the optical specifications required by G.652D. Reducing the fiber MFD in a matched clad (MC) profile tends to increase the magnitude of the waveguide dispersion [Ainsle82] of the design, resulting in an elevated zero dispersion wavelength. This can be compensated by reducing the cutoff wavelength, but the MAC factor analysis presented earlier shows that the possible improvements in bending losses will then be minimized. Lowering the refractive index of the region around the core of the bend insensitive fiber offers an additional degree of freedom in fiber design space to simultaneously balance the key optical parameters and remain comfortably centered in the G.652 specifications. The key benefit of the DC over the MC design for reducing macrobending for tight bends, such as D = 15 mm or 20 mm, can be illustrated by considering a more technical picture than that provided by the simple MAC factor analysis. In one visually illustrative approach, an effective refractive profile for a bent fiber is expressed by tilting the profile of the straight fiber to capture some of the essential physics of waveguide propagation [Petermann76]. Tilted profiles for idealized matched and depressed cladding fiber designs are shown in Figure 2. In this representation the smaller the bend radius R, corresponding to greater macrobending loss, the greater the tilt in the profile. Equal tilts, correspond to equal bend radii, are modeled in Figure 2 for MC and DC fiber designs. The fiber effective indices neff are plotted as horizontal lines. In this model, the point where the effective index crosses the tilted refractive index profile corresponds to the radius outside of which the otherwise guided mode of the fiber begins to couple to unguided radiation modes. In this picture, it becomes clear that there is always some radius rc, away from the center line of the bent fiber, beyond which the mode effective index neff is equal to or lower than that of the cladding index. This means that light from the guided mode can couple to freely propagating light waves and leak out of the fiber. That radius rc is sometimes referred to as the caustic radius. The magnitude of the resulting macrobending loss is proportional to the electric field strength at rc. Figure 2 illustrates that the radiation caustic for the DC bend insensitive fiber can be significantly outside that of a comparable matched clad fiber for tighter bends. With other factors being equal, when the radiation caustic occurs at larger radius, the field strength is smaller and the resulting macrobending loss is lower. This illustrates the physics behind the exceptionally good tight bending performance of depressed clad fibers for small bending radii such as diameters of 15 or 20mm.

n1
neff =

k0

n2

+a

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the refractive index profile for simplest matched clad fiber design. Profile parameters are the core radius a and the refractive index n1 in the germania doped core. The cladding index n2 is that of pure silica. The dashed line indicates the effective index neff of the fundamental LP01 mode, which is the ratio of the mode propagation constant and the propagation constant in free space k0. The simplest metric that correlates with macrobending loss is the so-called MAC factor, defined as:

MAC =

1000 * MFD( m) cutoff (nm)

(1)

Reducing the mode field diameter (MFD) has the effect of confining the light more tightly inside the higher index core, therefore reducing the amount of optical power in the cladding that exponentially decays outside the core, and therefore reducing the coupling to radiation modes at a bend. Raising the cutoff wavelength (cutoff) has the effect of raising the effective index of the guided mode, which is also beneficial for reducing macrobending loss. Thus, for a given fiber design, a strong and linear correlation is generally obtained between the log of macrobending loss at a fixed radius and MAC factor. Thus reducing MAC factor is a viable method for driving fiber design toward lower macrobending loss. However there are limits to the approach of reducing MAC factor with standard matched clad (MC) singlemode fiber. Clearly cabled fiber cutoff values must be less than 1260nm, so the nominal cutoff value for a manufacturing process must be set to balance the need for high yield (i.e. low cost) and best bending performance. As MFD is reduced from the current industry nominal 9.2 um for matched clad fiber, other fiber properties are also affected. In particular, it is not possible (with any fiber design) to independently vary MFD, cutoff, and zero dispersion wavelength (ZDW). For example, one bend insensitive fiber

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Refractive Index Profile

0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 -0.1 0 5 Matched Clad SSMF Depressed Clad SSMF 10 15 20 25 30

Neff @ 1550

Delta (%)

"Tilted" Profiles

Radiation Caustic

This is made possible by a unique combination of VAD core technology with Rod-in-Tube (RIT) overcladding technology. The RIT technology gives two advantages. First, it gives greater flexibility to control the optical properties of the materials used to design the fiber in a cost effective way. Second, it allows the fiber design to be implemented in an economical process for large performs. The result of this design effort was a fiber that met the following criteria: G.652D compliance Excellent cabled PMD performance Excellent Splice performance to itself and other fibers Excellent Bend performance

Radius (microns)

Figure 2. Tilted profile model for macrobend loss showing MC and DC standard singlemode fiber designs, where the tilt angle increases for smaller bend diameters. Using the DC design we developed a bend insensitive singlemode fiber with parameters near the center of the G.652 requirements that offers excellent macrobend performance with a nominal MFD of 8.9 microns. Once the design was finalized the next challenge was to develop a method to manufacture this fiber design with zero water peak. Vapor Axial Deposition (VAD) technology combined with the Rod-In-Tube (RIT) overcladding is a proven technology for world class, singlemode fiber performance attributes. Our experience with the manufacture of AllWave ZWP fiber has shown that this fabrication technology can produce optical fiber with best-in-class attenuation with Zero Water Peak (ZWP) properties, extremely low PMD, and tight distributions of geometrical properties for excellent splice and connector performance. In addition, the ability to fabricate very large preforms with VAD-RIT technology enables efficient, low cost factory operations. Furthermore, the very large draw-down ratio with large preforms results in high spool-to-spool uniformity of fiber properties. As reported by Chang et al. [Chang05], the patented VAD-RIT process provides the essential ingredients for ZWP fiber performance: core rods with extremely low levels of OHcontamination, cladding glass that is also sufficiently dry, and an appropriately located interface between the VAD glass and the overcladding that also has low contamination levels. Furthermore, high productivity synthetic glass deposition during overcladding tube fabrication ensures low cost cladding material without compromise in quality, ensuring high strength and low susceptibility to loss increase when exposed to hydrogen from environmental sources. A very high degree of circular symmetry in the fiber geometry is desirable to enable low fiber PMD and low loss splicing. The inherent symmetry of the VAD process, as well as the absence of a collapse step during the core-rod fabrication, results in fiber with in best in class core circularity and core-cladding concentricity. Although low core ovality is important for PMD performance, asymmetric stresses that result from externally applied forces can also impact PMD. However, low and stable PMD is assured by the use of OFS patented spinning technology the only known practical method to control PMD.

The nominal MFD of 8.9m for the bend insensitive fiber is close to the matched clad industry norm 9.2m of the past ten years to minimize compatibility concerns with field splice measurements, while being low enough to give significant improvement in both macro and microbending loss.

5. Macrobend data
The properties of the bend insensitive AllWave FLEX ZWP fiber product are compared to generic G.652 and competitive best-in-class G.652D fiber in Table I.

AllWave Generic Leading Bend FLEX Lambda G652 G652D # Diam. (nm) Singlemod Singlemode Singlemode turns (mm) e Fiber Fiber Fiber 1 1 100 100
20 1550 1625 1550 1625 1550 1625 1550 1625 1 4 0.10 0.40 0.05 0.25 0.03 0.10 NA NA 0.05 NA 0.05 NA 0.05 0.05 0.2 0.5 0.02 0.05 0.01 0.05 0.03 0.03

30/32 50 60

Table 1. Comparison of bending data and specifications for various G.652 singlemode products Traditionally bending losses have been specified for 1 turn at 32mm diameter and for 100 turns at a larger diameter (50-75mm). However bending losses for the 100 turn configurations at large radii such are already specified to be quite low for best-in-class matched clad fibers such as AllWave ZWP. Further tightening specifications at these bending radii is of little to no value to the overall system loss budget. However, significant reduction in microbending and in tight loop macrobend losses for small diameters (e.g. 20 and 32mm) can provide significant benefits to system designers concerned with shrinking fiber enclosures and designing high-density micro cables. The bend performance assures that the fiber will have improved properties across a wide range of stressful environments, where sensitivity to multiple bend radii as well as microbending may dominate in different settings.

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It is significant that this bend insensitive singlemode fiber design maintains key properties such as the zero dispersion wavelength (ZDW) and MFD near the center of the G.652D specification ranges. Other bend insensitive singlemode designs target a nominal MFD at 8.6 um (at the minimum of the G.652 range) and have extended the ZDW specification up to 1334nm (above the G.652 allowed maximum). Such fibers are appropriate in some applications and in some markets, but may not be likely to find widespread acceptance amongst US RBOCs. It is not obvious if European PTTs will follow the non-G.652D design either. In these market segments, an excessive difference in MFD or stepping outside the G.652 range may penalize a fiber product commercially.

6. Bend Resistant Jumpers and Patchcords

Perhaps the most widely appreciated application of bend insensitive fibers is for jumpers and patchcords. As patchcords are routed within fiber-management systems, they are frequently, albeit inadvertently, subjected to macrobends, which increase attenuation. Macrobending attenuation will also be an increasing concern as fiber density increases on patch panels and in shelves. The importance of low macrobending loss for jumper fiber has been well-documented and continues to increase in importance as analog video is deployed over PONs in FTTH, Raman amplified systems are deployed in DWDM gear, and as the industry prepares for 40Gbps deployments [Bradley06]. Optical powers ranging from +17 to as high as +30 dBm are possible. Figure 3 shows comparative bending losses for an OFS bendinsensitive 1.6-mm patchcord vs. a 1.6-mm matched clad patchcord fabricated from fiber from a reputable manufacturer. Matched clad patchcords are far more sensitive to bends less than 20 mm in diameter than bend-insensitive patchcords. The losses shown for the matched clad jumper in Figure 3 can have severe consequences in an optical transmission system. For example, it has been demonstrated [Bradley06] that bend-insensitive patchcords maintain 10Gbps bit error ratios at bending diameters which result in transmission errors for matched clad patchcords. Even well-trained craft may incidentally bend fibers carrying live traffic when tracing jumpers or installing new equipment. Use of bend-insensitive jumpers provides added insurance against bit errors in 10Gbps or 40Gbps systems.
50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0 5 10 Mandrel Diameter (mm)
Matched Clad #1 AllWave Flex ZWP #1 Matched Clad #2 AllWave Flex ZWP #2 Matched Clad #3 AllWave Flex ZWP #3

In addition to preserving the integrity of transmitted data, optical damage from high power at bends is a significant reliability issue. When a patchcord carrying a high power signal experiences a macrobend, power loss at the bend causes a localized temperature increase, due to absorption of energy by the fiber coating, buffering, and jacketing materials. The point at which the coating temperature reaches 85oC is an important marker, since 85oC is the maximum exposure temperature called out in Telcordia GR409-CORE testing. At higher temperatures, coatings can begin to delaminate, and buffering and jacketing material can begin to soften or degrade over time. In testing reported in [Bradley06] matched clad patchcords reached the 85oC mark at a 180-degree, 10-mm diameter bend for a minimum transmitted power of 0.9 W, while bend-insensitive patchcords did not reached this not reach that limit until a minimum of 1.3W. There are obvious implications for reliability in high power applications. For example, figure 4 compares the coating temperature change of the bend insensitive singlemode design to conventional singlemode in a 20 mm diameter loop in high power applications.
Fiber Temperature vs Transmission Power (20mm Bend)
180 160 Temperature (C) 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 Power (W) MC AW FLEX

Figure 4. Comparison of coating temperature change for, matched clad, and AllWave FLEX fiber designs in high power applications. In reality, the problem of the incidental bend could occur anywhere fibers are spliced or handled in large numbers by less experienced and less skilled craft. A fiber pinch or twist into a small loop in field equipment could easily yield a 15 mm bending diameter perhaps even less noticeably in the case of bare fibers than jumpers.

Loss Increase (dB)

7. Micro-bend performance in cables

The primary function of the cable design is to package and protect the comparatively delicate fibers during installation and in their required operating environment. Cable diameters are constantly being driven smaller and smaller for a number of reasons. In the external network, the increasing popularity of installation by the blowing technique, both in standard ducts applications and microduct is one reason. Others include the issues of duct congestion and the use of cables in non-traditional environments such as utility pipes. As mentioned above, FTTP and access applications are creating the need for smaller, robust cable designs, which nevertheless remain flexible. For practical and aesthetic reasons enclosures,

15

20

Figure 3. Comparison of bend performance for patchcords with conventional singlemode and bend insensitive singlemode fiber

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cabinets and wall boxes are desired to be as small as possible. Installers want cables able to be routed around a house and coiled into much tighter bends than current fiber and cable designs allow. There comes a point with traditional fibers, when to meet the diameter requirements, the designer is forced to compromise on key performance characteristics such as temperature performance, tensile performance or crush loads. This is due to the fact that standard fibers tend to show losses when they are stressed. For example in loose tube designs losses can be experienced when the fiber comes into contact with the tube wall as the cable expands and contracts under different temperature extremes. A bend insensitive fiber offers the cable designer a variety of new options. The fibers are much less susceptible to macrobending and microbending losses and as such, when the fiber is pressed into contact with the inner surface of a loose tube the optical loss effects are significantly reduced. Alternatively the fibers may be fully encapsulated, in ribbon or other configurations, opening the possibility for totally dry designs. Examples of the new types of design possible are shown in Figures 5 and 6 below.

These compact cable designs would not perform well using standard fiber designs. For example, Figure 7 shows the low temperature performance of the cable design given in figure 5. The figure shows that this drop cable design would not provide reasonable attenuation results at low temperatures if standard singlemode fibers were used. The figure clearly shows the advantage of using bend insensitive fiber in small diameter flexible drop cable. Similar performance advantages were seen for other microcable designs.

OFS Prototype Flexible Drop Cables.

0.200 -0.20

Mini LSOH LT Drop Cable - 1.0 mm Tubes V15/06: Dropcable 1mm LHPBT 4F BI-4 Aramid-mit FRNC - 3,5mm V16/06: Dropcable 1mm LHPBT 4F Standard-ohne Aramid-mit FRNC - 3,5mm V17/06: Dropcable 1mm LHPBT 4F Standard-4 Aramid-mit FRNC - 3,5mm Temperature Test

Temperature (oC)
Temperature [C] 80

80

Attenuation Change (dB/km)

0.150

Temperature

-0.10 0.100
Attenuation, variation [dB/km] 0.050

AW Flex Fibers

60

40

40

V17/02_2f_a V17/02_2f_b V15/02_2f_a V15/02_2f_b V16/02_2f_a Temperature

20

0. 0 0.000
0 -0.050 -20

-0.100 0.10

-0.150 -0.200 0.20 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55

Standard G.652.D
60 65 70 75

-40

-40

-60

Coloured Fibre

Hard Acrylate Outer Layer

Central core design Diameter: 3.5 mm Weight: 8.5 kg/km Tensile: 1 x W Crush: 1 kN Temperature Range: -40 to +70C

Time (hrs)

Time [h]

Figure 7. The low temperature performance of bend insensitive fiber to conventional fiber in a flexible drop cable design

8. Splicing data
A key prerequisite for widespread deployment of any fiber is fusion splicing performance. In order to simulate field splice performance for our bend insensitive fiber two groups of 5 spools were randomly selected and then each fiber from the first group was spliced to each fiber in the second group 10 times resulting in a total of 250 splices. A histogram of the loss results for this study is shown in figure 8. Splice loss is determined by factors both intrinsic and extrinsic to the fiber. Our experience shows that, with current core-aligned fusion splicers, the average contribution to splice loss from extrinsic factors such as fiber endface preparation and splicer performance can be reduced to around 0.01 dB in the laboratory but is often greater in the field. Intrinsic factors are dominated by fiber geometry. Even for corealigned splices the geometric attribute that has the largest effect on splice loss is core eccentricity. Using the VAD-RIT process we maintain the median eccentricity below 0.2 microns, yielding excellent splice performance. Variation in MFD is a second order effect on actual splice loss but can produce an artifact in one-way OTDR testing that confuses some field technicians. AllWave FLEX ZWP is specified with an industry-benchmark tight spread in MFD of +/- 0.4 m.

Soft Acrylate Inner Layer

Figure 5 Totally dry flexible drop cable This enhanced bending performance of the fiber improves the cable performance. The improvement over conventional fiber was demonstrated by the temperature performance, as shown in Figure 7. This result was achieved with the design shown in Figure 5. A bend insensitive fiber allows the cable designer the possibility to look at new innovative cable designs, reducing cable diameters and components further or by increasing fiber packing density.
MiDiaFX 96f

8 Elements Diameter: 6.5 mm Weight: 45 kg/km Tensile: 2 x W Crush: 1.0 kN Temperature Range: -40 to +70C

Figure 6 Reduced diameter 96f cable for microduct applications.

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AllWave FLEX to AllWave FLEX Splice Loss Data 120 100 80 60 40 20 0

0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1 0 Splice Loss

[Jeunhomme, Boncek] Figure 9 compares splice loss measured using unidirectional OTDR to actual splice loss from a bidirectional OTDR measurement when an 8.9 micron fiber is spliced to another singlemode fiber.
Relationship between MFD and splice loss measured by one way OTDR and actual loss 0.4 Splice loss (dB) 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 -0.1 8.4 -0.2 MFD of fiber being spliced (microns) MFD = 8.9 (Actual loss) MFD = 8.9 (Artifact measured A1by one way OTDR) 8.6 8.8 9 9.2 9.4 9.6 9.8

Frequency

Figure 8. fiber

Splice loss histogram for AllWave FLEX

A second aspect of splice loss is compatibility when splicing to the installed base. In this case, the relevant comparison is between the 8.9 +/- 0.4 m MFD range of the bend insensitive fiber and the 9.2 +/- 0.4 m range of current leading single mode fibers. There are two issues here. First, true splice loss is only weakly affected by mismatch of MFD in this range. The maximum ratio in MFD for the lowest and highest in this set is 9.6um / 8.6um ~ 1.12, leading to a theoretical increase in splice loss of only 0.05 dB [Corning01] in the worst case. Table 2 summarizes the experimental results of splicing our bend insensitive fiber to other matched clad fibers. These results combine the intrinsic effects of MFD mismatch and concentricity with the extrinsic effects of fiber cleaving, fiber preparation, the performance of the fusion splicing apparatus. The largest contributor to actual attenuation in this study was an extrinsic factor: performance of the core-aligned fusion splicer. Table 2. Splice study results using bidirectional OTDR. The table shows average results for 250 splices for each fiber combination. AllWave FLEX ZWP AllWave FLEX ZWP AllWave ZWP 0.02 dB AllWave ZWP 0.03 dB 0.02 dB Competitive Singlemode fiber 0.03 dB 0.03 dB

More

Figure 9. Comparison of apparent splice loss from a unidirectional OTDR measurement to actual splice loss from a bidirectional OTDR measurement for an 8.9 micron fiber spliced to a second single mode fiber whose MFD is shown on the x-axis. The unidirectional OTDR loss is manifested as a gainer or loser in the OTDR trace. When AllWave FLEX ZWP is spliced to AllWave ZWP more than 90% of the unidirectional OTDR traces show a discontinuity less than 0.4 dB. Similar results would be observed splicing our bend insensitive fiber to other singlemode products with nominal 9.2 MFD. This stands in sharp contrast to the case of splicing an 8.6 +/- 0.4um MFD fiber to the standard matched clad MFD distribution. Splicing a new fiber design in a greenfield network is not an issue as the fibers will be spliced into a single narrow distribution. When splicing into the existing base of fiber, with nominal MFDs ranging from 8.6 to 10.0 microns, one always needs to understand the impact of MFD on the one way OTDR measurement and use appropriate field acceptance criteria.

9. Pushing Fiber Deeper into the Access Network

FTTP involves placing an optical transmission path between a centralized network electronics location (Central Office or Head End), and potential subscribers. As subscribers take service the optical network is reconfigured to terminate at or even within the customers premises. This transmission path is known as an Optical Distribution Network (ODN). The ODN is comprised of sections of optical fiber cable joined together by connectors, splices, and splitters housed in outdoor cabinets, outdoor enclosures, and sometimes in indoor patch panels. Signal loss is the main impairment for FTTP optical systems, reducing reach and bandwidth potential for FTTP networks. Signal loss can lead to lost revenue potential or increased cost of the network. Installing a low loss ODN which adds to the power budget of the system often resulting in reduced system costs by

The more craft sensitive issue is that of the OTDR artifact that can arise when splicing fibers of dissimilar MFD, known as an OTDR gainer or loser.[Boncek] In this case, a downward step in the OTDR reflected power can give the false impression of a bad splice. This effect, though non-zero, is minimized for the MFD ranges between AllWave FLEX and standard matched clad fibers. The impact of MFD dissimilarity and eccentricity on bidirectional OTDR can be simulated by Monte Carlo methods [Mettler]. One can also analytically compare one way OTDR to actually values

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reducing the required number of CO or Head End (CO/HE) locations in the network. Such equipment consolidation can reduce costs for real estate, buildings, maintenance, and equipment. In additionally, with all else being equal, a low loss ODN can support higher data rates and lower the cost of video transmission equipment. Low loss ODNs may be required for cost optimized deployment of 10 Gb/s Passive Optical Networks (PONs) that are currently under development in standards. Service providers recognize these benefits and are realizing low loss ODNs by carefully selecting low loss fiber cables, splitters, and connectors. More recently, system installers have begun focusing on a less known impediment to optical network performance: Fiber bending loss. When optical fibers are bent within cabinets, enclosures, or patch panels, additional signal loss is incurred. These bends can be difficult to detect and a few inadvertent bends in an ODN can create wreak havoc in an FTTP network. For a conventional single-mode fiber (SMF), only two 180 degree bends of a little less than 1 in diameter can sap 20% of the optical signal energy. Such bends introduced in the feeder portion of a PON networks could disrupt or degrade service to 32 subscribers. Another limitation of conventional SMF is packaging: Its high bending loss requires larger enclosures and cabinets to manage the bend radius of fiber or cable slack storage. FTTP equipment is located, by definition, closer to the end use. For FTTH applications, this means that more and potentially larger sized fiber handling units will be located in neighborhoods. The footprint of such equipment must be smaller than in the past. Apparatus for dropping fibers out of distribution cables into feeder cables and out of feeder cables into drop cables will be frequently and regularly located throughout a network.

Patchcord Bending Effects, Proceedings of NFOEC, Anaheim, CA 2006.

[4] [Buck95] J. A. Buck, Fundamentals of Optical Fibers,

(New York, Wiley Interscience, 1995).

[5] [Chang05] K. H. Chang, J. P. Fletcher, J. Rennell, A.

Nakajima, J. Vydra, and R. Sattmann, Next Generation Fiber Manufacturing for the Highest Performing Conventional Single Mode Fiber, in Optical Fiber Communication Conference, Technical Digest, (Optical Society of America, Washington, D.C., 2005) paper JWA5.
[6] [Corning01] Single Fiber Fusion Splicing

Application Note, AN103, Corning, Inc. (2001).

[7]

[Jeunhomme90] Jeunhomme Single-mode Fiberoptics : Principles and Applications, Marcel Decker, New York (1990). effect of mode field diameter mismatch on single-mode fiber splices.

[8] [Mettler] S. C. Mettler, Monte-Carlo analysis of the

[9] [Petermann76] K. Petermann, Theory of microbending

loss in monomode fibres with arbitrary refractive index profile, AEU, Bd. 30, no. 9, pp. 337342, 1976

10. Conclusions
AllWave FLEX ZWP leverages fiber design experience from the widely deployed AT&T original single-mode fiber design and the benefits of the VAD-RIT manufacturing platform to provide a new fiber to address the evolving needs for demanding access networks. Whether the need is for bend insensitive jumpers, smaller cable or fiber management accessories, or increased cable performance at extreme conditions, AllWave FLEX ZWP provides unmatched performance relative to G.652D products available today. Dedication: This paper is dedicated to the memory of our coauthor and colleague, Dr. Peng Wang, who suffered an untimely death during the writing of this manuscript as a result of an auto accident.

11. References
[1] [Ainsle82] B. James Ainslie, Keith J. Beales, Clive R.

Day, James D. Rush, The Design and Fabrication of Monomode Optical Fiber, IEEE J. of Quantum Electronics, Vol QE-18, N0. 4, April 1982, p 514-523
[2] [Boncek] R.K. Boncek, J. Hartpence, Y.Qian and T.

Fengqing Wu received the B.S. degree in material science from Changchun University of Science and Technology, China, in 1982, and the M.S. degree in optics from Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, China, in 1986, and the Ph. D. degree in Ceramics from Rutgers University, New Jersey, in 1994. He currently is a distinguished member of technical staff with OFS. He has taken leading roles in new process development, and optical fiber designs at SpecTran Corp, Sturbridge, MA and Lucent Technology, Norcross, GA. His current focus is optical fiber perform technology. .

Liang, Ensuring Low Splice LossWith High Quality Fibers OFS white paper
[3]

[Bradley06] K. Bradley, A.E. Hauth, R.L. Lingle, Jr., P. Wang, and W.C. White III, Characterizing Fiber

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current responsibilities include design of Premises optical cables, and materials development for Outside Plant, Premises, and FTTx cables. He has a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Minnesota (1998), and B.S. degrees in both Materials Science and Organizational Management from the University of Pennsylvania (1992). He has been granted 20 U.S. patents related to design of optical cables, and was co-recipient of the 2000 Jack M. Spergel Memorial Award from the IWCS. Dave Peckham is a Consulting Member of Technical Staff in the Fiber Design and Systems Simulation Group at OFS in Norcross. His career began at the Bell Labs Transmission Media Lab in 1982 working on optical measurement techniques. Since 1989 he has focused on the design, process development and commercialization of optical fibers at Bell Labs, Lucent and currently OFS. He received the BS and ME degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida. In 2002 he received the OSA Engineering Excellence Award recognizing his contributions in design and commercialization of fibers enabling high speed, wideband WDM networks. Ron Smith is Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in the area of optical fiber measurement technology at OFS. He has worked in the fiber industry since its inception and developed numerous techniques and procedures used to qualify and characeterize optical fibers. He holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech. Stefan Jost is a development engineer at OFS Optical Fiber Cable Group in Augsburg, Germany.

Timothy G. Goddard is Senior Technical Manager, Research & Development for the Optical Fiber Cable Group at OFS, Carrollton, Georgia. His responsibilities focus on all aspects of materials development, and ribbon and cable product design. Tim graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1987 with a BS in Textile Engineering. After 5 years as a process engineer in the industrial textiles industry, he returned to graduate school at Georgia Tech. There he received his MS in Textile Engineering in 1994, and a Ph.D. in 1997. Peng Wang received a Ph.D. in Electronics Engineering from Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Kowloon, Hong Kong) in 1994. He also received a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, in 2000. He served as a Member of Technical Staff in OFS Connectivity R&D, from 2000 to 2006, where he spearheaded efforts to develop flexible optical circuits, reliable laser-cleaving devices, jumper-tracing and administration systems, and ultra bendinsensitive patchcords.

Jason Pedder is the R&D/Bid Process Manager for OFS in Augsburg, Germany, where he is responsible for product development and R&D activities. He is an active member on standardization bodies, including BSI and IEC. He has a BSc in Mathematics with Computing and has worked in the optical cable manufacturing industry for 16 years in Engineering, Design and Development.

Jim Hartpence is Technical Service Manager for the Optical Fiber Cable Group at OFS, Carrollton, Georgia.

Peter A. Weimann is a Senior R&D/Product Engineer, OFS, Carrollton, Georgia, USA. His

Jinkee Kim, received the B.S. and the M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Seoul National University and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. His doctoral research was on integrated optics, 100Gbit/s telecommunication, and digital signal processing. He worked at the CREOL in Orlando as a Research Staff, where his research was concentrated on photonic control systems for phased arrays. In 1996, he joined the Bell Laboratories of Lucent Technologies (now OFS) and is working in the fiber optics area. He is the inventor of new optical fibers, and holds several US patents.

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Kelvin Bradley, received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University in 1986 and an M.S. in Engineering Science and Mechanics from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1987. He is currently a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff with OFS, were he coordinates efforts to perform high-power testing of passive optical components and secure Telcordia qualification of high-end single-mode apparatus. Over the last 20 years, he has held design responsibility for various optical products including connectors, interconnection cables, adapters, field-installation kits, plug-n-play systems, and ruggedized products for military applications.

William Hatton is the Senior Manager of the Quality Organization at OFS in Norcross, GA. In addition to his quality management role, he also has responsibility for fiber measurement development and product reliability characterization. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State University. Over his 22 year career in the optical fiber manufacturing industry, he has been awarded multiple patents and published various technical papers related to optical fiber design and measurements technology.

Eric Barish, is Technical Manager of Engineering at OFS fiber manufacturing facility in Norcross, GA. Eric holds a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Virginia. He has extensive experience in designing and manufacturing optical fibers using the VAD process. Robert Lingle, Jr. is Director of Fiber Design and Transmission Engineering at OFS in Norcross, GA, as well as Adjunct Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech He has a research background in short pulse lasers and their application to fundamental processes in liquids and interfaces, with a Ph.D. in physics from LSU and a postdoc in chemistry at UC Berkeley. At Bell Labs and now OFS, he worked in sol-gel materials chemistry and managed the development and commercialization of several new optical fiber products. His current research is in the confluence of optical and electronic methods for mitigating impairments in optical communications systems.

David Mazzarese is the technical Marketing Manager, optical fiber in Norcross GA. He currently supports the entire optical path. Prior to this he spent over 10 years leading the development of various multimode, singlemode and specialty fiber products. He holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering and an MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

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