Abstract: Described herein are systems, methods, and articles of manufacture for a coated fiber modified by actinic radiation to increase back-scattering, which experiences very little back-scattering decay at a temperature and time of exposure that is sufficient to noticeably degrade the coating and/or noticeably degrade the optical fiber due to outgassing of hydrogen from the coating. In one embodiment, an optical fiber comprises a fiber length, a coating having a treated coating weight, wherein the treated coating weight is at least 25% less of an original coating weight prior to an annealing treatment, and an optical back-scatter along the fiber length greater than a Rayleigh back-scattering over the fiber length, wherein the optical back-scatter does not decrease along the fiber length by more than 3 dB after exposure to annealing treatment.

Abstract: Described herein are systems, methods, and articles of manufacture for reducing coupling loss between optical fibers, more particularly, to reducing coupling loss between a hollow-core optical fiber (HCF) and another fiber, such as solid core fibers (SCF), through the use of mismatched mode field diameter (MFD) and optical connector assemblies for low latency patchcords. According to one embodiment, an article is configured to reduce a coupling loss between multiple optical fibers, wherein the article includes an HCF supporting the propagation of a first mode and an SCF coupled to the HCF. According to a further embodiment, a method is described for reducing the coupling loss or splicing loss between optical fibers, such as an exemplary HCF and a solid core SMF.