Abstract
A polymer-based fiber micro-lens molding fabrication technique with, to our knowledge, unprecedented performances is presented along with its advantages and applications. This technique is a fast and affordable tool to achieve a wide variety of possible spherical and aspherical micro-lens sizes and curvatures. The alignment of the micro-lens mold with the fiber core receiving the lens is done optically, which allows high precision. Using the proposed technique, different micro-lenses are fabricated. Then the output beams of two different micro-lenses on single-mode fibers are characterized. Fiber micro-lenses with curvature as small as 5 µm are achieved. This shows how low curvature micro-lenses can achieve collimation and how high curvature ones on single-mode fibers lead to high focusing (${\rm FWHM} = \lambda$) that is much smaller than what most conventional commercial techniques can reach. Given that this technique imposes no stress and causes no damage to the fiber receiving the micro-lens, it presents a significant potential for compatibility with non-silica-based and micro-structured fibers such as photonic crystal and quasi-crystal fibers.
© 2022 Optica Publishing Group
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
Yong Wei, Chunbiao Liu, Chunlan Liu, Lingling Li, Lei Hu, Yonghui Zhang, Xiaoling Zhao, Tianci Jiang, Rui Wang, and Chen Shi
Appl. Opt. 61(15) 4620-4626 (2022)
Michael Zickar, Wilfried Noell, Cornel Marxer, and Nico de Rooij
Opt. Express 14(10) 4237-4249 (2006)
Fan Zhang, Baijin Su, Lixi Zhong, Beibei Qi, Ou Xu, and Yuwen Qin
Appl. Opt. 61(10) 2598-2603 (2022)