Low loss arc splicing of silica microfibers

We demonstrated the splicing of 2 μm diameter microfibers by using a modified arc discharge device. Two microfibers were aligned with the help of van der Waals forces before fusing them together by arc discharging. Most splicing losses were below 1 dB, and the lowest was 0.16 dB. A spliced microfiber did not induce undesired wavelength selection because arc splicing was a complete joining technique which is different from evanescent coupling. Simulation results show splicing coupling has better averaged coupling efficiencies than evanescent one over various overlapping lengths, and the measured results show consistency.