A method of fabricating a multi-element fiber scanner includes providing a fiber optic cable having a cladding region and a fiber core and focusing a laser beam at a series of predetermined locations inside the cladding region of the fiber optic cable. The method also includes creating a plurality of damage sites at the predetermined locations, exposing the fiber optic cable to an etchant solution, and preferentially etching the plurality of damage sites to form a base having a base plane and a longitudinal axis orthogonal to the base plane, a retention collar disposed a predetermined distance along the longitudinal axis from the base, a first fiber link including the fiber core, passing through the base plane, and joined to the retention collar, and a plurality of additional links joined to the base, extending from the base to the retention collar, and joined to the retention collar.

The exemplary embodiments provide an optical fiber sensor and a vector measuring device which measure a motion of a subject using a double Bragg grating formed in a core with a helical structure and measure a chiral motion inflection point vector.

A composed multicore optical fiber (MCF) device includes a first segment (MCF1) of a MCF having three coupled identical cores and having a first length (L1) and a second segment (MCF2) of the same MCF having a second length (L2). L1 and L2 are different from each other. One of the three coupled cores is located in a geometrical centre of the MCF. The first segment (MCF1) and the second segment (MCF2) of the MCF are rotated 180° relative to each other and spliced together. The first segment (MCF1) is spliced to a first segment (SMF1) of a single mode fiber (SMF) and the second segment (MCF2) is spliced to a second segment (SMF2) of the SMF. The free end of the second segment (SMF2) of the SMF is coupled to a mirror (M) to reflect an optical signal coming from the first segment (SMF1) of the SMF.

An optical connector for terminating a cable containing one or more multicore fibers. The connector has a plug housing, a ferrule disposed inside the housing, a rotatable frame, and a multicore fiber (MCF) stub having a length of a first MCF a portion of which is fixed inside the ferrule so that a first endface of the fiber is exposed at the front end of the ferrule. An opposite endface of the first MCF is cleaved for fusion splicing to a second MCF in the cable to be terminated. The ferrule also has a flange, and the frame is formed to engage the flange for rotation so that cores in the first MCF can be aligned and positioned in a prescribed orientation relative to the plug housing, and cores in the second MCF can be aligned with corresponding cores in the first MCF when the first and the second MCFs are fusion spliced to one another.

Space division multiplexers can include adapters between multicore fibers with different core patterns and/or add-drop multiplexers for multicore fibers.

An MCF according to one embodiment simultaneously achieves excellent economic rationality and high compatibility in short-distance optical transmission. The MCF includes a plurality of core portions, a common cladding, and a resin coating. Each of the core portions includes a core, an inner cladding, and a trench layer. At least four core portions arranged on a straight line have substantially the same relative refractive index difference between the core and the inner cladding. The refractive index profile of a first core portion and a second core portion adjacent to each other among the four core portions has a shape in which the refractive index of the inner cladding is offset with respect to the refractive index of the common cladding so that the magnitude relationship of the refractive index between the inner cladding and the common cladding is reversed.

A multicore fiber optic cable comprising of a central fiber having a central fiber outer diameter, a central fiber coating surrounding the central fiber outer diameter of the central fiber, the central fiber coating having a continuous spiraled groove around the central fiber outer diameter, a dual core optical fiber having a dual core optical fiber geometry, the dual core optical fiber spiraled around the central fiber coating and disposed within the spiraled groove such that the dual core optical fiber is wound around the central fiber coating in a spiral pattern and the central fiber core geometry and the dual core optical fiber geometry are oriented longitudinally to negate link path length difference; and an outer sheath surrounding the central fiber coating and the dual core optical fiber.

A multi-core fiber includes multiple optical cores, and for each different core of a set of different cores of the multiple optical cores, a total change in optical length is detected. The total change in optical length represents an accumulation of all changes in optical length for multiple segments of that different core up to a point on the multi-core fiber. A difference is determined between the total changes in optical length for cores of the set of different cores. A twist parameter and/or a bend angle associated with the multi-core fiber at the point on the multi-core fiber is/are determined based on the difference.

A system and method directed to detecting placement of a medical device within a patient body, the system including a medical device including an optical fiber having core fibers. Each of the one or more core fibers can include a plurality of sensors each configured to reflect a light signal having an altered characteristic due to strain experienced by the optical fiber. The system can further include logic configured to determine a 3D shape of the medical device in accordance with the strain of the optical fiber. The logic can be configured to define a reference plane for the 3D shape and render an image of the 3D shape on a display of the system in accordance with the reference plane.

Example embodiments include an optical interrogation system with a sensing fiber having a single core, the single core having multiple light propagating modes. Interferometric apparatus probes the single core multimode sensing fiber over a range of predetermined wavelengths and detects measurement interferometric data associated with the multiple light propagating modes of the single core for each predetermined wavelength in the range. Data processing circuitry processes the measurement interferometric data associated with the multiple light propagating modes of the single core to determine one or more shape-sensing parameters of the sensing fiber from which the shape of the fiber in three dimensions can be determined.