Lensed plastic optical fiber with an aspherical fiber end formed by joining an aspherical plastic lens and a plastic optical fiber using laser transmission welding

Abstract

In optical communication systems which require the coupling of the light source to the fiber, efficient coupling can be practically realized either using a separate lens or by direct formation of the lens at the fiber end. A novel lensed plastic optical fiber (LPOF) is presented with efficient coupling of the plastic optical fibers with a light source. An aspherical plastic lens was bound with a flattened plastic fiber end by laser transmission welding (LTW) to form an aspherical fiber endface which can provide better coupling efficiency than a spherical fiberface. An analysis demonstrates that LTW can offer strong welding with small heat affected zones that are appropriate for commercial use. In this study a useful method for manufacturing lensed-end fibers is developed and demonstrated experimentally.