Détermination de défauts de circularité de la section d'une fibre optique non gainée

Study of the light scattered from an unclad optical fiber illuminated by a laser beam perpendicular to its axis gives a valuation of little defects of the fiber cross section. The shifts of some bright fringes that occur when the fiber is rotated are observed. Comparison between experimental measurements and ray interference computations shows that the cross section of the fiber under test is neither circular nor elliptical, but can be described with good approximation by a limited Fourier series, the coefficients of which are estimated.