BW Fiber Testing

Mounting Fibers on the Popsicle Stick
The Kapton strips go through little slots at the bottom of the alignment jig. When tightening them I should pull them a little toward the rear of the alignment jig so that they won't come out from under the clamps. I don't want to pull them too much that way, though, because they might tear.

I may be asked to remove the collars from the fibers in the dark box so we can test them for crosstalk. To do this, I should use two collars to hold the fibers in place. One will be temporary and put on in the most convenient way as soon as I tighten the Kapton strips. The temporary collar will be in an inconvenient position for removing once the fibers are in the dark box, so I need to turn the fibers over and put on a permanent collar. After the permanent collar is on, I can remove the temporary collar before putting the fibers in the dark box.

One method of aligning the fibers is to get them through the Kapton strips and pull them fairly tight but still let the fibers move. There should be a collar near the popsicle stick and one near the middle of the bundle. Then you can take fibers one by one between the collars and push them into alignment. If it appears that the bottom 15 fibers (the ones that come to the front) are aligned adequately but the top 15 (the ones set back) are not yet aligned, you can put a strip of paper between the top 15 and the bottom 15 so that you will be able to take just the top 15 and push them forward. When checking the alignment, the collar should be tight so the fibers will not slip. If they need to be adjusted, the collar must be loosened. Once they are aligned correctly, the collar should remain tight.