Claims
- 1. A tapered lensed fiber, comprising:a tapered multimode fiber having a gradient-index core, wherein the tapered multimode fiber is terminated with a radius of curvature, wherein the radius of curvature ranges from about 5 to 30 μm; and an optical fiber attached to the tapered multimode fiber.
- 2. A method for forming a tapered lensed fiber, comprising:attaching an optical fiber to a multimode fiber having a gradient-index core; applying heat to a surface of the multimode fiber; and pulling the multimode fiber into a taper.
- 3. The method of claim 2, wherein applying heat to the surface of the multimode fiber comprises using a resistive filament to provide the heat.
- 4. The method of claim 3, wherein applying heat to the surface of the multimode fiber further comprises moving the resistive filament along the surface of the multimode fiber during heating.
- 5. The method of claim 2, wherein applying heat to the surface of the multimode fiber and pulling the multimode fiber into a taper occur simultaneously.
- 6. The method of claim 2, wherein pulling the multimode fiber into a taper comprises forming a radius of curvature at a distal end of the taper.
- 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the radius of curvature ranges from about 5 to 30 μm.
- 8. The method of claim 2, wherein attaching the multimode fiber to the optical fiber comprises fusion-splicing the multimode fiber to the optical fiber.
- 9. The method of claim 2, wherein pulling the multimode fiber into a taper comprises simultaneously pulling the optical fiber and the multimode fiber in opposite directions along a longitudinal axis of the multimode fiber.
- 10. The method of claim 2, wherein the optical fiber is a single-mode fiber.
- 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the single-mode fiber is a polarization-maintaining fiber.
- 12. A method for forming a tapered polarization-maintaining fiber, comprising:attaching a polarization-maintaining fiber to a multimode fiber having a gradient-index core; applying heat to a surface of the multimode fiber; and pulling the multimode fiber into a taper.
- 13. The method of claim 12, wherein applying heat to the surface of the multimode fiber comprises using a resistive filament to provide the heat.
- 14. The method of claim 12, wherein applying heat to the surface of the multimode fiber and pulling the multimode fiber into a taper occur simultaneously.
- 15. The method of claim 12, wherein pulling the multimode fiber into a taper comprises forming a radius of curvature at a distal end of the taper.
- 16. The method of claim 12, wherein attaching the polarization-maintaining fiber to a multimode fiber comprises fusion-splicing the polarization-maintaining fiber to the multimode fiber.
- 17. A tapered polarization-maintaining fiber, comprising:a tapered multimode fiber having a gradient-index core, wherein the multimode fiber is terminated with a radius of curvature, wherein the radius of curvature ranges from 5 to 30 μm; and a polarization-maintaining fiber attached to the tapered multimode fiber.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/298,841, entitled “Thermally Formed Lensed Fibers for Imaging and Condenser Applications,” filed Jun. 15, 2001 and U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60/352,735, “Tapered Lensed Fiber For Focusing and Condenser Applications”, filed Jan. 29, 2002.
US Referenced Citations (24)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0 278 212 |
Sep 1993 |
EP |
WO 0034810 |
Jun 2000 |
WO |
Provisional Applications (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60/352735 |
Jan 2002 |
US |
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60/298841 |
Jun 2001 |
US |