Optical coupler comprising multimode fibers and method of making the same

Abstract

An optical coupler is provided. It has a bundle of multimode fibers with a few-mode fiber in its centre. Such bundle is fused at one end which is the output end for the signal that is transmitted by the few-mode fiber. To make the coupler, this output end of the bundle is aligned and spliced with a large area core double clad fiber while preserving the modal content of the feed-through. A method for making such optical coupler is also provided. It includes the steps of bundling a central few-mode fiber with a plurality of multimode fibers and then fusing one end of such bundle and aligning it and splicing with a large core double clad fiber, while preserving fundamental mode transmission from one to the other.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. An optical coupler which comprises:
 (a) a bundle of a plurality of multimode fibers having a few-mode fiber in the center, said few-mode fiber being a signal fiber through which an optical signal is transmitted; 
 (b) a large area core double clad fiber (LACDCF) having an inner cladding and an outer cladding with a lower refractive index, and having an end portion terminating with an input end the inner cladding of which has a predetermined circumference, into said input end of the LACDCF the optical signal is to be transmitted from said few-mode fiber; 
 (c) said bundle having a fused end portion with an output end having a periphery that fits within the circumference of the inner cladding of the input end of the LACDCF; and 
 (d) said output end of the bundle being aligned and spliced with the input end of the LACDCF in such a way as to preserve fundamental mode transmission from the few-mode fiber to the LACDCF. 
 
     
     
       2. An optical coupler according to  claim 1 , in which the outer cladding of the LACDCF is a polymer cladding and said polymer outer cladding is removed from the end portion of the LACDCF. 
     
     
       3. An optical coupler according to  claim 1 , in which the multimode fibers are tapered before being fused at the output end, in order to fit within the circumference of the inner cladding of the input end of the LACDCF. 
     
     
       4. An optical coupler according to  claim 3 , in which the multimode fibers are tapered and fused in such a way as not to affect the fundamental mode transmission in the core of the few-mode fiber. 
     
     
       5. An optical coupler according to  claim 3 , in which the tapering of the multimode fibers reduces the core of the few-mode fiber to the fundamental mode size near the output end of the bundle, when said core bad been expanded prior to bundling. 
     
     
       6. An optical coupler according to  claim 1 , in which the few-mode fiber at the output end is a fiber with a core expanded from a single mode fiber. 
     
     
       7. An optical coupler according to  claim 1 , in which the plurality of multimode fibers is placed essentially symmetrically around the few-mode fiber within the bundle. 
     
     
       8. An optical coupler according to  claim 1 , in which at least one of the plurality of multimode fibers in the bundle is replaced by a dummy fiber. 
     
     
       9. A method of forming an optical coupler, which comprises;
 (a) bundling a central few-mode fiber with a plurality of surrounding multimode fibers so that the surrounding multimode fibers are positioned essentially symmetrically around the central few-mode fiber, thereby forming a bundle of said fibers having an output end; 
 (b) providing a large area core double clad fiber (LACDCF) having an inner cladding and an outer cladding with a lower refractive index, and having an end portion terminating with an input end where the inner cladding of the LACDCF has a given circumference; 
 (c) fusing the output end of the bundle so that its periphery fits within the circumference of the inner cladding of the input end of the LACDCF; and 
 (d) splicing the fused output end of the bundle to the input end of the LACDCF in such a manner that the core of the few-mode fiber is precisely modally aligned with the core of the LACDCF so as to preserve fundamental mode transmission from the few-mode fiber to the LACDCF. 
 
     
     
       10. Method according to  claim 9 , in which the outer cladding of the LACDCF is a polymer cladding and the method includes removing said polymer outer cladding from the end portion of the LACDCF prior to splicing. 
     
     
       11. Method according to  claim 9 , in which the multimode fibers at the output end of the bundle are tapered prior to being fused. 
     
     
       12. Method according to  claim 11 , in which the tapering is done according to the following maximum taper ratio:
   R=ρ o /ρ i =NA MM /NA DCF 
 
 
       where R is the maximum taper radio
 ρ o  is the final diameter of the multimode fiber 
 ρ i  is the initial diameter of the multimode fiber 
 NA MM  is the numerical aperture of the multimode fiber 
 NA DCF  is the numerical aperture of the LACDCF inner cladding waveguide. 
 
     
     
       13. Method according to  claim 11 , in which the tapering of the multimode fibers followed by fusing of the bundle in done so as not to affect the modal size of the core of the few-mode fiber. 
     
     
       14. Method according to  claim 11 , in which the tapering of the multimode fibers followed by fusing of the bundle decreases the modal size of the core of the few-mode fiber, when said core had been expanded prior to bundling. 
     
     
       15. Method according to  claim 9 , in which the few-mode fiber has a core near the output end of the bundle, which is expanded from an initial single-mode fiber core. 
     
     
       16. Method according to  claim 15 , in which the expansion is done by means of a mode converter to increase the size of the core. 
     
     
       17. Method according to  claim 15 , in which the expansion is done by beating to a high temperature such that germanium present in the core diffuses into the cladding, thereby increasing the size of the core and of the mode. 
     
     
       18. Method according to  claim 9 , in which the cores of the few-mode fiber and of the LACDCF are precisely modally aligned by launching the fundamental mode of the few-mode fiber while monitoring the modal content at the input end of the LACDCF by means of a near field measurement device and aligning the output end of the bundle and the input end of the LACDCF unit a Gaussian mode field is obtained. 
     
     
       19. Method according to  claim 18 , in which the LACDCF is kept straight or under a small tension, when monitoring the modes by the near field measurement device, and the measurement is done at or near operational wavelength. 
     
     
       20. Method according to  claim 19 , in which the coupler is packaged by bonding it to a suitable substrate to preserve the alignment of the components. 
     
     
       21. An optical fiber coupler device comprising:
 a) a double-clad fiber comprising a large area central core, an inner cladding having a first refractive index, and an outer cladding having a second refractive index lower than said first refractive index;   b) a fiber bundle comprising a plurality of multimode fibers coupled to said inner cladding of said double-clad fiber, and a central fiber having a few-mode central core, said central fiber being coupled to said double-clad fiber such that said few-mode central core is coupled to said large area central core and such as to preserve fundamental mode transmission between said few-mode central core of said central fiber and said large area central core of said double-clad fiber;
 wherein said fiber bundle is being tapered to a reduced cross sectional area prior to being coupled to the double-clad fiber such that said tapered fiber bundle fits within a circumference of said inner cladding of said double-clad fiber. 
   
     
     
       22. An optical fiber assembly comprising:
 a) a fiber bundle comprising a plurality of multimode pump fibers and a central few-mode fiber, said few-mode fiber comprising a few-mode central core, said bundle having an outer diameter; and   b) a double-clad fiber comprising a large area central core, an inner cladding, and an outer cladding, said inner cladding having an outer diameter that is at least equal to said outer diameter of said fiber bundle;
 wherein said fiber bundle is spliced to said double-clad fiber such that said few-mode central core and said large area central core are optically coupled such as to preserve fundamental mode transmission between said central cores, and such that optical power in said multimode pump fibers of said fiber bundle is coupled into said inner cladding of said double-clad fiber. 
   
     
     
       23. An optical fiber coupler device comprising:
 a) a double-clad fiber comprising a large area central core, an inner cladding, and an outer cladding;   b) a plurality of multimode fibers optically coupled to said inner cladding of said double-clad fiber; and   c) a few-mode fiber comprising a few-mode central core, said few-mode fiber being coupled to said double-clad fiber such that the few-mode central core is coupled to said large area central core of said double-clad fiber and such as to preserve fundamental mode transmission between said few-mode central core of said few-mode fiber and said large area central core of said double-clad fiber;
 wherein said plurality of multimode fibers and said few-mode fiber are bundled together into a fiber bundle, wherein said few-mode fiber is located at the center of said fiber bundle, and wherein said fiber bundle is being tapered to a reduced cross sectional area prior to being coupled to said double-clad fiber such that said tapered fiber bundle fits within a circumference of said inner cladding of said double-clad fiber. 
   
     
     
       24. An optical fiber assembly comprising:
 a) a fiber bundle comprising a plurality of multimode pump fibers, and a central fiber comprising a few-mode central core, said fiber bundle having an outer diameter; and   b) a double-clad fiber comprising a large area central core, an inner cladding, and an outer cladding, said inner cladding having an outer diameter that is at least equal to said outer diameter of said fiber bundle,
 wherein said fiber bundle is spliced to said double-clad fiber such that said central cores are optically coupled such as to preserve fundamental mode transmission between said central cores, and such that optical power in said multimode pump fibers is coupled into said inner cladding of said double-clad fiber. 
   
     
     
       25. The optical fiber assembly according to claim 24, wherein said fiber bundle is tapered and spliced to said double-clad fiber so as to not affect fundamental mode transmission from between said central cores. 
     
     
       26. The optical fiber assembly according to claim 25, wherein said few-mode central core is narrowed in a first region where said fiber bundle is tapered, and wherein said few-mode central core is expanded in a second region where said fiber bundle is spliced to said double-clad fiber. 
     
     
       27. The optical fiber assembly according to claim 26, further comprising core expanding means for expanding said few-mode central core in said second region. 
     
     
       28. An optical fiber assembly comprising:
 a) a fiber bundle comprising a plurality of multimode pump fibers, and a central single-mode fiber comprising a single-mode central core, said fiber bundle having an outer diameter; and   b) a double-clad fiber comprising a large area core, an inner cladding, and an outer cladding, said inner cladding having an outer diameter that is at least equal to said outer diameter of said fiber bundle,
 wherein said fiber bundle is spliced to said double-clad fiber such that said central cores are optically coupled such as to preserve fundamental mode transmission between said central cores, and such that optical power in said multimode pump fibers of said fiber bundle is coupled into said inner cladding of said double-clad fiber; and 
 wherein said fiber bundle comprises a mode converter coupled to said single-mode fiber for increasing a size of said single-mode central core of said single-mode fiber to be compatible with said large area central core of said double-clad fiber. 
   
     
     
       29. The optical fiber assembly according to claim 28, wherein said mode converter comprises a fiber having a few-mode central core. 
     
     
       30. The optical fiber assembly according to claim 28, wherein said mode converter comprises diffusion means for diffusing said single-mode central core to thereby cause said single-mode central core to become few-moded in a region adjacent to where said fiber bundle is spliced to said double-clad fiber. 
     
     
       31. An optical fiber assembly comprising:
 a) a fiber bundle comprising a plurality of multimode pump fiber, and a central few-mode fiber comprising a few-mode central core, said fiber bundle having an outer diameter; and   b) a double-clad fiber comprising a large area central core, an inner cladding, and an outer cladding, said inner cladding having an outer diameter that is at least equal to said outer diameter of said fiber bundle;
 wherein said fiber bundle is spliced to said double-clad fiber such that said few-mode central core of said few-mode fiber is optically coupled to said large area central core of said double-clad fiber such as to preserve fundamental mode transmission between said central cores, and such that optical power in said multimode pump fibers of said fiber bundle is coupled into said inner cladding of said double-clad fiber. 
   
     
     
       32. An optical fiber assembly comprising:
 a) a fiber bundle comprising a plurality of multimode pump fiber, and a central fiber comprising a few-mode central core, said fiber bundle having an outer diameter; and   b) a double-clad fiber comprising a large area central core, an inner cladding, and an outer cladding, said inner cladding having an outer diameter that is at least equal to said outer diameter of said fiber bundle;
 wherein said fiber bundle is spliced to said double-clad fiber such that said few-mode central core of said central fiber is optically coupled to said large area central core of said double-clad fiber such as to preserve fundamental mode transmission between said central cores, and such that optical power in said multimode pump fibers of said fiber bundle is coupled into said inner cladding. 
   
     
     
       33. An optical coupler according to claim 1, in which the bundle is tapered before being fused at the output end in order to fit within the circumference of the inner cladding of the input end of the LACDCF. 
     
     
       34. An optical coupler according to claim 33, in which the bundle is tapered and fused in such a way as not to affect the fundamental mode transmission in the core of the few-mode fiber. 
     
     
       35. An optical coupler according to claim 33, in which the tapering of the bundle reduces the core of the few-mode fiber to the fundamental mode size near the output end of the bundle, when said core had been expanded prior to bundling.