A manufacturing method of an optical splitter of the present disclosure includes: performing first processing that involves mounting a coated optical fiber on a jig configured to store the coated optical fiber, and polishing the coated optical fiber together with the jig until reaching a vicinity of a core of the coated optical fiber or the core of the coated optical fiber; performing second processing that involves applying a refractive index matching material having a refractive index lower than a refractive index of the core of the coated optical fiber onto a polished face of the coated optical fiber on the jig polished in the first processing or onto a polished face of an optical waveguide circuit having been polished in advance until reaching a vicinity of a core or reaching the core, and then bonding the polished faces to each other; and performing third processing that involves positionally aligning the polished faces bonded with each other in the second processing to move the jig or the optical waveguide circuit to a position at which a desired splitting ratio is obtained.

In some implementations, a fiber optic combiner may comprise an enclosing tube having a geometric shape and multiple optical fibers bundled within the enclosing tube. In some implementations, the multiple fibers comprise at least one optical fiber having a core and a non-circular cladding surrounding the core. The non-circular cladding may cause the multiple optical fibers to have a larger tube fill factor and a lower expected beam parameter product increase factor relative to the multiple optical fibers all having circular claddings.

An electro-optic beam controller, material processing apparatus, or optical amplifier, and corresponding methods, can include an actively controlled, waveguide-based, optical spatial mode conversion device. The conversion device can include a coupler, which can be a photonic lantern, configured to combine light beams into a common light beam; a sensor configured to measure at least one characteristic of the common light beam; and a controller configured to modulate optical parameters of the individual, respective light beams to set one or more spatial modes of the common light beam. Actively controlled and modulated devices can be used to maintain a stable, diffraction-limited beam for use in an amplification, communications, imaging, laser radar, switching, or laser material processing system. Embodiments can also be used to maintain a fundamental or other spatial mode in an optical fiber even while scaling to kilowatt power.

An optical network having at least one star coupler comprising transmit and receive optical mixers which are respectively optically coupled to transmitters and receivers of a plurality of optical-electrical media converters. Each optical-electrical media converter comprises a respective receiver optically coupled to the receive optical mixer by way of plastic optical fibers and a respective transmitter optically coupled to the transmit optical mixer by way of plastic optical fibers. The output plastic optical fibers attached to an output face of the receive optical mixer have a diameter less than the diameter of the input plastic optical fibers attached to an input face of the receive optical mixer.

The present invention provides a tapered side-polished fiber-optic biosensor (FOBS) and a method for preparing a tapered side-polished fiber (SPF). The biosensor includes a broadband light source, a first single-mode fiber, a tapered SPF, a second single-mode fiber, and a spectrometer. The broadband light source is connected to the tapered SPF through the first single-mode fiber, and the tapered SPF is connected to the spectrometer through the second single-mode fiber. The broadband light source is configured to emit a light wave. The spectrometer is configured to display a spectrum corresponding to a light wave passing through the first single-mode fiber, the tapered SPF, and the second single-mode fiber successively. In the present invention, a fiber side-polishing technology is combined with a fiber tapering technology to construct a tapered SPF, and a spectrum changes by changing a refractive index around a side-polished tapered region, thereby measuring the refractive index. In addition, the tapered SPF provided in the present invention can generate a Vernier effect, thereby improving the sensor's anti-electromagnetic interference and sensitivity to refractive index measurement.

A beam combiner includes: a plurality of input optical fibers, a beam combination optical fiber and an output optical fiber; the input optical fiber includes an input fiber core and an optical fiber input cladding layer wrapping an outer wall of the input fiber core, the output optical fiber includes an output fiber core and an optical fiber output cladding layer wrapping an outer wall of the output fiber core, a cross section of the optical fiber input cladding layer is fan-shaped or hexagonal and is provided with a groove and/or a protrusion along an axial direction, the plurality of input optical fibers are nested with each other to form the beam combination optical fiber, fiber cores in the beam combination optical fiber are all connected to the output fiber core, and a beam combination cladding layer of the beam combination optical fiber is connected to the output fiber core.

A beam combiner includes: a plurality of input optical fibers, a beam combination optical fiber and an output optical fiber; the input optical fiber includes an input fiber core and an optical fiber input cladding layer wrapping an outer wall of the input fiber core, the output optical fiber includes an output fiber core and an optical fiber output cladding layer wrapping an outer wall of the output fiber core, a cross section of the optical fiber input cladding layer is fan-shaped or hexagonal and is provided with a groove and/or a protrusion along an axial direction, the plurality of input optical fibers are nested with each other to form the beam combination optical fiber, fiber cores in the beam combination optical fiber are all connected to the output fiber core, and a beam combination cladding layer of the beam combination optical fiber is connected to the output fiber core.

A manufacturing method of an optical splitter of the present disclosure includes: performing first processing that involves mounting a coated optical fiber on a jig configured to store the coated optical fiber, and polishing the coated optical fiber together with the jig until reaching a vicinity of a core of the coated optical fiber or the core of the coated optical fiber; performing second processing that involves applying a refractive index matching material having a refractive index lower than a refractive index of the core of the coated optical fiber onto a polished face of the coated optical fiber on the jig polished in the first processing or onto a polished face of an optical waveguide circuit having been polished in advance until reaching a vicinity of a core or reaching the core, and then bonding the polished faces to each other; and performing third processing that involves positionally aligning the polished faces bonded with each other in the second processing to move the jig or the optical waveguide circuit to a position at which a desired splitting ratio is obtained.

In some implementations, a fiber optic combiner may comprise an enclosing tube having a geometric shape and multiple optical fibers bundled within the enclosing tube. In some implementations, the multiple fibers comprise at least one optical fiber having a core and a non-circular cladding surrounding the core. The non-circular cladding may cause the multiple optical fibers to have a larger tube fill factor and a lower expected beam parameter product increase factor relative to the multiple optical fibers all having circular claddings.

An electro-optic beam controller, material processing apparatus, or optical amplifier, and corresponding methods, can include an actively controlled, waveguide-based, optical spatial mode conversion device. The conversion device can include a coupler, which can be a photonic lantern, configured to combine light beams into a common light beam; a sensor configured to measure at least one characteristic of the common light beam; and a controller configured to modulate optical parameters of the individual, respective light beams to set one or more spatial modes of the common light beam. Actively controlled and modulated devices can be used to maintain a stable, diffraction-limited beam for use in an amplification, communications, imaging, laser radar, switching, or laser material processing system. Embodiments can also be used to maintain a fundamental or other spatial mode in an optical fiber even while scaling to kilowatt power.