Single-mode fiber OTDR: Experiment and theory

An OTDR measurement technique with an end detection dynamic range of 63 dB is described for use with single-mode fibers. A theoretical analysis of single-mode fiber backscattering is presented which predicts loss penalties in single-mode OTDR's compared with multimode fibers. The prediction of the critical power levels of about 3- 4 W for the onset of nonlinear effects in fibers is shown to be in good agreement with experiment. Fusion welded splices do not demonstrate significant backscattered power.