Improving the Coupling Efficiency of Light into Single Mode Fibers


Improving the Coupling Efficiency of Light into Single Mode Fibers


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What factors affect the amount of light coupled into a single mode fiber?

Illustration of coupling conditions that will reduce amount of light coupled into a single mode fiber's guided mode.
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Figure 2 Conditions which can reduce coupling efficiency into single mode fibers include anything that reduces the similarity of the incident beam to the optical properties of the fiber's guided mode. 

Illustration of coupling conditions that will provide optimal coupling efficiency
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Figure 1 For maximum coupling efficiency into single mode fibers, the light should be an on-axis Gaussian beam with its waist located at the fiber's end face, and the waist diameter should equal the MFD. 

Adjusting the incident beam's angle, position, and intensity profile can improve the coupling efficiency of light into a single mode optical fiber. Assuming the fiber's end face is planar and perpendicular to the fiber's long axis, coupling efficiency is optimized for beams meeting the following criteria (Figure 1):

  • Gaussian intensity profile.
  • Normal incidence on the fiber's end face.
  • Beam waist in the plane of the end face.
  • Beam waist centered on the fiber's core. 
  • Diameter of the beam waist equal to the mode field diameter (MFD) of the fiber.  

Deviations from these ideal coupling conditions are illustrated in Figure 2.

These beam properties follow from wave optics analysis of a single mode fiber's guided mode [1]. 

The Light Source can Limit Coupling Efficiency
Lasers emitting only the lowest-order transverse mode provide beams with near-Gaussian profiles, which can be efficiently coupled into single mode fibers.

The coupling efficiency of light from multimode lasers or broadband light sources into the guided mode of a single mode fiber will be poor, even if the light is focused on the core region of the end face. Most of the light from these sources will leak out of the fiber. 

The poor coupling efficiency is due to only a fraction of the light in these multimode sources matching the characteristics of the single mode fiber's guided mode. By spatially filtering the light from the source, the amount of light that may be coupled into the fiber's core can be estimated. At best, a single mode fiber will accept only the light in the Gaussian beam output by the filter. 

The coupling efficiency of light from a multimode source into a fiber's core can be improved if a multimode fiber is used instead of a single mode fiber. 

References
[1] Andrew M. Kowalevicz Jr. and Frank Bucholtz, Beam Divergence from an SMF-28 Optical Fiber (NRL/MR/5650--06-8996) (Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, 2006).

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Date of Last Edit: Jan. 17, 2020


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