APPLICATION NOTE

DETERMINING FIBER SIZE

109A
BACKGROUND

Quick identification of the exact size and type of a given piece of optical fiber is a routine but necessary task.
There are several approaches to determining fiber size.

FIBER PREPARATION
If one has access to the fiber itself, the first step in identification is to remove any outer jacket material that may
exist and carefully remove the plastic buffer from the fiber. (Note: If you do not have access to the fiber itself and
can only view the fiber end, then proceed to the section on Core Size.) This can be accomplished using fiber strippers designed for the task or can be accomplished almost as easily using a razor blade. It takes a bit of practice to
remove the plastic with a razor blade, but it can be mastered after a few repetitions. Always cut along the fiber axis
towards the cut end of the fiber. Fiber has tremendous strength in tension but is very weak in all other directions.
Always stroke the razor blade away from your body. A good approach is to use the razor blade to remove a sliver of
plastic, then rotate the fiber 90 and repeat the process until the fiber cladding is fully exposed. Once the bulk of
the plastic coating is removed, carefully clean the bare fiber with a tissue soaked in alcohol. (Note: Use only industrial grade 99% pure isopropyl alcohol. Commercially available isopropyl alcohol is for medicinal use and is diluted
with water and a light mineral oil. Industrial grade isopropyl alcohol should be used exclusively.) Always wipe
along the fiber axis with continuous strokes to the end of the fiber.

CLADDING SIZE
Once the fiber is clean, take a clean machinist micrometer and carefully measure the outer diameter of the
fiber. This outer diameter is the cladding diameter of the fiber. Be certain that the metal faces of the micrometer
are clean. Do not over tighten the micrometer as the fiber will fracture. Table I shows the possible results for the
most common fiber sizes and the interpretation of the results.
Table I - Common Fiber Cladding Sizes & Corresponding Micrometer Reading
Fiber Type

Nominal Cladding Diameter

Tolerance

Low Micrometer Reading

High Micrometer Reading

Single-mode

125 m

1 m

4.88 mils

4.96 mils

Multimode

125 m

4 m

4.76 mils

5.08 mils

Multimode

140 m

4 m

5.35 mils

5.67 mils

Multimode

230 m

5 m

8.86 mils

9.25 mils

Thus, if the fiber cladding diameter measures 5.38 mils, then the fiber is almost certainly multimode with a 140
m cladding diameter. Cladding diameter is the most important parameter when selecting the fiber optic connector size. The cladding diameter determines the size of the hole in the fiber optic connector.

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AN109A
This figure represents scale drawings of the relative
size of the core and cladding on the five most popular
fiber types for fiber optic communication. Of these
five, the first three are the most common and 110/125
m is the least common of the five types.

Micrometer

With a little practice, it is easy to quickly and accurately identify the fiber types. When looking through
the microscope, the fiber core will be very dark if the
fiber is illuminated only at the microscope side. If the
distant end of the fiber is illuminated, then the fiber
core will appear brightly lit. Simply compare the image
in the microscope to the scale drawing to the left. The
key feature to match is the relative size of the core to
cladding. With basically only five sizes of fiber to worry
about, it becomes a relatively simple matter to judge
the correct size. There are, of course, other fiber sizes
in existence, but they are rare. One fiber size that was
heavily promoted by Corning was the 85/125 m multimode fiber size. It was a dismal failure. Odds are low
that any will be found today. There is also a range of
much larger fibers, but these have limited use in communications applications. Other large fiber sizes
include 200/230 m, 400/430 m and 1000/1050 m.
The latter fiber is very nearly a glass rod.

Microscope

CORE SIZE
Once the cladding diameter is determined, the next
step is to determine the core size. (In some cases, the
cladding diameter may uniquely identify the fiber
size.) If there is still ambiguity, the core size must be
determined. A microscope capable of about 50X magnification is needed for this step. A high intensity light
or penlight is useful to light the fiber end. The idea is
to get a good look at the end of the fiber, and judge
the fiber size from what is seen. This technique works
best if the fiber is in a connector so that the fiber end is
polished and flat. If that is not the case, it may be necessary to cleave the fiber so that the end can be
examined. Clamp the fiber end or fiber optic connector at the focal plane of the microscope. Shine the light
onto the fiber end. It is sometimes useful to light the
far end of the fiber as well if it is accessible. Once focus
is established, compare the view with the five drawings
shown in Figure 1.

There are other imaginative ways of determining

fiber size. For instance, if one has a multimode LED
light source available (e.g. a fiber optic video transmitter), a simple light injection test can be performed to
quickly determine the fiber size. A surface- emitting
LED is best for this purpose since its light injection
level varies most dramatically with fiber size. The LED
should be powered at a fairly constant current and
then attached to a few known size fiber optic cables. In
each case, note the relationship between fiber size and
launched power. Once a small database of results is
available, then proceed to attach the unknown fiber
optic cables. It is generally very easy to distinguish
between fiber sizes. One possible drawback of this
method is the possibility of high loss due to a bad fiber
optic connector or a stressed or broken optical fiber.
Launching the LED into both ends of the fiber optic
cable will usually improve the chances of a correct
result.

Figure 1- Relative Core/Cladding Size

Force, Incorporated reserves the right to make changes to the product described in this document in the interest of product improvement.
November 2000 by Force, Incorporated

All Rights Reserved