US 8,509,577 B2Granted

Fiberoptic device with long focal length gradient-index or grin fiber lens

AssigneeSt. Jude Medical, Inc.

InventorYu Liu

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Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide a fiberoptic device that uses a gradient-index (GRIN) lens for focusing a light beam emitted by an optical fiber, but achieves a substantially longer focal length than that of a GRIN lens alone by placing a beam expander (e.g., no core fiber or step-index multimode fiber) between the terminal end of the optical fiber and the GRIN lens to simulate free space therebetween. In one embodiment, a fiberoptic device comprises an optical fiber having a fiber core and an end through which a light beam emits from the fiber core; a beam expander having a first end coupled to the end of the optical fiber and having a second end, the beam expander permitting the light beam emitting from the fiber core to pass from the first end to the second end and to expand from the first end to a larger size at the second end; and a gradient-index fiber lens coupled to the second end of the beam expander to receive the light beam from the beam expander and focus the light beam.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A fiberoptic device comprising:

an optical fiber having a fiber core and an end through which a light beam emits from the fiber core;
a beam expander having a first end coupled to the end of the optical fiber and having a second end, the beam expander permitting the light beam emitting from the fiber core to pass from the first end to the second end and to expand from the first end to a larger size at the second end;
and
a gradient-index fiber lens coupled to the second end of the beam expander to receive the light beam from the beam expander and focus the light beam;
wherein the gradient-index fiber lens has a core with a diameter Dgrin;
wherein the beam expander has a length between the first end and the second end, LBE, which is determined by
D1=Dcore+2LBE tan(θBE)
where D1 is a beam diameter of the light beam at the second end of the beam expander and is approximately equal to the diameter Dgrin of the gradient-index fiber lens, the optical fiber has a cladding and the fiber core has a core diameter of Dcore, and θBE is a divergent angle of the light beam exiting the optical fiber;
wherein
θBE=a sin(NA/nBE)
where nBE is a refractive index of the beam expander, and NA is a numerical aperture of the optical fiber, NA=√{square root over (n12−n22)}, n1 is a refractive index of the fiber core of the optical fiber, and n2 is a refractive index of the cladding of the optical fiber;
and
wherein the second end of the beam expander has a larger size than the core diameter of the fiber core of the optical fiber to allow the light beam from the fiber core to expand within the beam expander from the first end to the second end.

10 more elements

A device for focusing a light beam emitting from an end of an optical fiber, the device comprising:

a beam expander having a first end to be coupled to the end of the optical fiber and having a second end, the beam expander permitting the light beam emitting from the optical fiber to pass from the first end to the second end and to expand from the first end to a larger size at the second end;
and
a gradient-index fiber lens coupled to the second end of the beam expander to receive the light beam from the beam expander and focus the light beam;
wherein the gradient-index fiber lens has a core with a diameter Dgrin;
wherein the beam expander has a length between the first end and the second end, LBE, which is determined by
D1=Dcore+2LBE tan(θBE)
where D1 is a beam diameter of the light beam at the second end of the beam expander and is approximately equal to the diameter Dgrin of the gradient-index fiber lens, the optical fiber has a cladding and a core with a core diameter of Dcore, and θBE is a divergent angle of the light beam exiting the optical fiber;
wherein
θBE=a sin(NA/nBE)
where nBEis a refractive index of the beam expander), and NA is a numerical aperture of the optical fiber, NA=√{square root over (n12−n22)}, n1 is a refractive index of the core of the optical fiber, and n2 is a refractive index of the cladding of the optical fiber;
and
wherein the second end of the beam expander has a larger size than the core diameter of the fiber core of the optical fiber to allow the light beam from the fiber core to expand within the beam expander from the first end to the second end.

9 more elements

A fiberoptic device comprising:

an optical fiber having a fiber core and an end through which a light beam emits from the fiber core;
means coupled to the end of the optical fiber for emulating free space thereby allowing the light beam to expand from the fiber core at the end of the optical fiber to a larger size;
and
a gradient-index fiber lens coupled to the means for emulating free space to receive the larger size light beam and focus the light beam;
wherein the gradient-index fiber lens has a core with a diameter Dgrin;
wherein the means for emulating free space has a length between a first end coupled to the end of the optical fiber and a second end coupled to the gradient-index fiber lens, LBE, which is determined by
D1=Dcore+2LBE tan(θBE)
where D1 is a beam diameter of the light beam at the second end of the means for emulating free space and is approximately equal to the diameter Dgrin of the gradient-index fiber lens, the optical fiber has a cladding and the fiber core has a core diameter of Dcore, and θBE is a divergent angle of the light beam exiting the optical fiber;
wherein
θBE=a sin(NA/nBE)
where nBE is a refractive index of the means for emulating free space as beam expander, and NA is a numerical aperture of the optical fiber, NA=√{square root over (n12−n22)}, n1 is a refractive index of the core of the optical fiber, and n2 is a refractive index of the cladding of the optical fiber;
and
wherein the second end of the means for emulating free space has a larger size than the core diameter of the fiber core of the optical fiber to allow the light beam from the fiber core to expand within the means for emulating free space from the first end to the second end.

10 more elements

A fiberoptic device, comprising:

an optical fiber having a fiber core and an end through which a light beam emits from the fiber core;
a beam expander having a first end coupled to the end of the optical fiber and having a second end, the beam expander permitting the light beam emitting from the fiber core to pass from the first end to the second end and to expand from the first end to a larger size at the second end, the beam expander comprising a core of a step-index multimode fiber (SI-MMF);
and
a gradient-index fiber lens coupled to the second end of the beam expander to receive the light beam from the beam expander and focus the light beam;
wherein the second end of the core of the SI-MMF has a larger size than a core diameter of the fiber core of the optical fiber to allow the light beam from the fiber core to expand within the core of the SI-MMF from the first end to the second end;
wherein the gradient-index fiber lens has a core surrounded by a cladding, the core having a refractive index that varies with a radial distance from an axis of the gradient-index fiber lens, decreasing radially outwardly toward the cladding;
and
wherein the gradient-index fiber lens has a refractive index profile expressed as
n
⁡
(
ρ
)
=
{
n
1
,
grin
⁢
1
-
2
⁢
(
ρ
/
a
)
2
⁢
Δ
(
ρ
≤
a
)
n
2
,
grin
(
ρ
>
a
)
where α is a radius of the core of the gradient-index fiber lens, n1,grin is a refractive index of the core of the gradient-index fiber lens, and n2,grin is a refractive index of the cladding of the gradient-index fiber lens, 0≦ρ≦α represents a radius of light trace, and a parameter Δ is expressed as
Δ
=
n
1
,
grin
2
-
n
2
,
grin
2
2
⁢
⁢
n
1
,
grin
2
⁢
=
NA
grin
2
2
⁢
⁢
n
1
,
grin
2
where NAgrin is a numerical aperture of the gradient-index fiber lens.

79 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.