Design and processing of high-density single-mode fiber arrays for imaging and parallel interferometer applications

Abstract

The design and fabrication procedures for implementing a high-density (16-microm center spacing) single-mode fiber (SMF) array are described. The specific application for this array is a parallel optical coherence tomography system for endoscopic imaging. We obtained fiber elements by etching standard single-mode SMF-28 fibers to a diameter of 14-15 microm. We equalized 1-m lengths of fiber to within 1 mm by using a fiber interferometer setup, and we describe a method for packaging arrays with as many as 100 fibers.

Parallel optical coherence tomography system

“…The fiber array used in the sample arm of the POCT system consisted of SMF-28 [8] fibers that had been etched to 15 m diameters using a standard buffed oxide etch (BOE) solution with a process described in previous papers [9,10]. The etched section is 1 mm long, and the uniformity of the length and diameter is very good due to the stable nature of the BOE process [10,11].…”

“…The etched section is 1 mm long, and the uniformity of the length and diameter is very good due to the stable nature of the BOE process [10,11]. The reduced diameter fibers were mounted in a silicon trench groove with a depth of 13.5 m, as shown in Fig.…”

“…The remaining position difference was calibrated and compensated by the software. This equalization technique was first proposed in [10]. The path length difference achieved between all paired channels was less than 1.3 mm in air.…”

Low-Cost Active-Alignment of Single-Mode Fiber-Arrays

“…A need for low-cost two-dimensional single-mode fiber arrays is currently beginning to arise for a variety of applications such as single-mode-fiber to single-mode fiber connectors, optical chip-to-chip communication [1], optical cross-connectors [2], consumer electronics and interferometry based sensors [3,4].…”