Patent ID: 6991383

Claim:
A method of splicing dissimilar optical fibers, comprising: longitudinally positioning an end-surface of a first optical fiber adjacent to an end-surface of a second, dissimilar optical fiber so that a gap is formed between the two end-surfaces, wherein the end-surfaces are positioned in a splicer so that a center of the gap is aligned with the splicer electrodes; cleansing micro-dust particles from the two end-surfaces with a low-power electric arc generated by the splicer electrodes; capturing a warm image of the two end-surfaces and the gap during the cleansing step; determining a pre-fusion arc-center position by analyzing thermal light emissions captured in the warm image; determining an offset distance from the pre-fusion arc-center position based on a direction of light propagation and a degree of Mode Field Diameter (MFD) mismatch between the dissimilar optical fibers; abutting the two end-surfaces; longitudinally repositioning the two abutted end-surfaces by the offset distance with respect to the pre-fusion arc-center position; and asymmetrically heating the repositioned abutted end-surfaces with a high-power electric arc generated by the splicer electrodes, thereby fusing the two dissimilar optical fibers.