Novel Method for the Fabrication of Long Optical Fiber Tapers

We report a novel fiber taper facility that allows the fabrication of fiber tapers between a few centimeters and tens of meters in length and that can be used for standard and microstructured optical fibers (MOFs). Efficient reduction of error in diameter variation is achieved using the velocity control feedback loop. The experimental results of the tapering of both the step index fiber and the MOF are presented. The observed outer diameter tracking error over the taper length was within 1%.