Measurement of Apex Offsets for Fiber Connector End Faces

As one of the most important geometric parameters for a PC-type fiber connector end face, apex offset can contribute to high insertion loss and high back-reflection reading. A novel measurement method for the parameter, connector rotating-π method, is proposed. With the method, the apex offset of a common connector end face is measured. The result is compared with that measured by a Norland 3000 fiber connector end face interferometer. It is found that the difference between two results is 1.8μm. Meantime, the influences of relevant error resources on apex offset measurement under rotating-π method and apex-core method are respectively analyzed, and two error equations are derived. The analytical result shows that, compared with apex-core method, if two additional sub-tilts of axis within and in the direction perpendicular to principal plane caused by its rotation are not bigger than the original axis tilt angle, the max. measurement error will then be reduced by at least 22.5% with rotating-π method. The practicability of the method is confirmed by the experiments.