Development of optical fiber attenuator

Optical fiber attenuator is one of the earliest passive components in optical communication. As early as the mid-1970s, some countries with high level of optical communication began to develop this device. In the 1980s, many countries invested considerable manpower and physics in the research and development of optical fiber attenuators. So far, four series of fixed, step adjustable, continuous adjustable and intelligent optical fiber attenuators have been formed.

The fixed optical attenuator is mainly used for the fixed attenuation of the light energy in the optical path, and its temperature characteristics are excellent. In the debugging of the system, it is often used to simulate the corresponding attenuation of the optical signal after passing through a section of optical fiber, or to reduce the surplus optical power in the interruption station to prevent the receiver from saturation, or to calibrate the optical test instrument. Different types of Fixed Attenuators can be used for different line interfaces. If the interface is pigtail type, the pigtail type optical attenuator can be welded between the optical fibers at both ends of the optical path; if there is a connector interface in the process of system debugging, it is more convenient to use the conversion type or change type fixed attenuator

At present, the market of optical fiber attenuator is growing. Among the passive components, the output of optical fiber attenuator is second only to optical fiber connector, optical fiber coupler and optical devices. Because the fixed fiber attenuator has low price and stable performance. It’s a little easy to use, so the market demand is more than the variable fiber attenuator. Due to its flexibility, the market demand of variable fiber attenuator is still increasing steadily.