Contenido. 1. Introduction. p.1.-- 2. Fiber preparation and alignment. p.27.-- 3. Mechanics of fusion splicing. p.49.-- 4. Optics of fusion splicing. p.91.-- 5. Splice loss estimation and fiber imaging. p.137.-- 6. Splice strength, reliability, and packaging. p.161.-- 7. Splice measurement and characterization. p.183.-- 8. Splice process optimization and special splicing strategies. p.203.-- 9. Fusion splicing of specialty fiber. p.229.-- 10. Splicer hardware: state of the art. p.255.