In-Process Diameter Measurement Technique for Micro-Optical Fiber with Standing Wave Illumination

Abstract

In this paper, we propose an in-process measurement method of the diameter of micro-optical fiber such as a tapered optical fiber. The proposed technique is based on analyzing optically scattered light generated by standing wave illumination. The proposed method is significant in that it requires an only limited measurement range and does not require a high dynamic range sensor. These properties are suitable for in-process measurement. This experiment verified that the proposed method could measure a fiber diameter as stable as\u2009±\u20090.01\xa0μm under an air turbulence environment. As a result of comparing the measured diameter distribution with those by scanning electron microscopy, it was confirmed that the proposed method has a measurement accuracy better than several hundred nanometers.