It is a technique that uses controlled heat to permanently fuse two optical fiber ends together. Unlike mechanical splicing, which relies on alignment sleeves and index-matching gel, this thermal approach creates a continuous glass path between fibers. See the FOA Virtual Hands-On for the process of fiber optic cable splicing (PDF). The goal is to fuse the two fibers together in such a way that light passing through the fibers is not scattered or reflected back by the splice, and so that the splice and the region surrounding it are almost as strong as the. Fiber termination refers to the process of preparing the end of a fiber optic cable to connect to another fiber, a device, or a network.