LOW LOSS FIBER OPTIC COUPLER AND METHOD

A method of making 1 x 2 or 2 x 2 overclad couplers, switches and the like such that the process is more reproducible and loss characteristics are improved. Such couplers are typically made by inserting the stripped portions of two active optical fibers into a tube, heating the tube midregion to collapse it onto the fibers and stretching the central portion of the collapsed midregion to achieve the desired coupling characteristics. The improvement involves the insertion of one or two spacer fibers into the tube bore along with the active fibers to take up empty space that had been present in tube bore and to prevent an active fiber from sagging and crossing over the other fiber when the tube is heated during the tube collapse step.