Optical fiber connector

An optical fiber connector arrangement comprising:

• a first optical fiber connector comprising:
• a body having a bore,
• a first optical fiber having an end face and a core that is surrounded by a cladding layer, wherein the cladding layer is surrounded by a buffer layer for at least a portion of an axial extent of the first optical fiber and the first optical fiber is arranged within the bore, and an alignment sleeve that is either i) arranged coaxially with the bore or ii) arranged coaxially with a first optical fiber connector axis, and
• a lens that contacts the end face of the first optical fiber;
• and
• a counterpart optical fiber connector comprising:
• a counterpart body having a counterpart bore,
• a counterpart optical fiber having a counterpart end face and a counterpart core that is surrounded by a counterpart cladding layer, wherein the counterpart cladding layer is surrounded by a counterpart buffer layer for at least a portion of the axial extent of the counterpart optical fiber and the counterpart optical fiber is arranged within the counterpart bore, the counterpart optical fiber connector comprising a counterpart alignment sleeve that is either i) arranged coaxially with the counterpart bore or ii) arranged coaxially with a counterpart optical fiber connector axis, wherein the alignment sleeve is configured to mate with the counterpart alignment sleeve, and
• a counterpart lens that contacts the counterpart end face of the counterpart optical fiber, wherein:
• A) for a first portion of the axial extent of the counterpart bore of the counterpart optical fiber connector, the counterpart buffer layer of the counterpart optical fiber is absent or removed;
• and wherein for the first portion either i) the counterpart cladding layer is in optical contact with the counterpart body via an optical medium having a real part of refractive index that is greater than or equal to the refractive index of the counterpart cladding layer;
• or ii) the counterpart cladding layer is in optical contact with the counterpart body and the counterpart body is formed from a material having a real part of refractive index that is greater than or equal to the refractive index of the counterpart cladding layer;
• or
• B) for a second portion of the axial extent of the bore of the first optical fiber connector, the buffer layer of the first optical fiber is absent or removed;
• and wherein for the second portion either i) the cladding layer is in optical contact with the body via an optical medium having a real part of refractive index that is greater than or equal to the refractive index of the cladding layer;
• or ii) the cladding layer is in optical contact with the body and the body is formed from a material having a real part of refractive index that is greater than or equal to the refractive index of the cladding layer;
• the alignment sleeve is tapered and the counterpart alignment sleeve is tapered in a complementary manner to a taper of the first alignment sleeve;
• the alignment sleeve has an outer diameter that is configured to fit within an inner diameter of the counterpart alignment sleeve of the counterpart optical fiber connector;
• and
• the alignment sleeve has a stop flange disposed annularly around the alignment sleeve and adapted to engage a complementary annularly disposed stop flange of the counterpart alignment sleeve and prevent linear movement of the counterpart alignment sleeve when engaged.