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

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. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.