70

JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY,VOL.

LT-5, NO. 1, JANUARY 1987

Optical Fiber Tapers-A Novel Approach

to Self-Aligned Beam Expansion
and Single-Mode Hardware
N. AMITAY,

FELLOW,

IEEE,H. M. PRESBY, F. V . DIMARCELLO,

AND

K. T. NELSON

Abstract-We investigate the performance characteristics of singlemode optical fiber tapers. These devices have a standard single-mode
so
fiber geometry at one end and gradually increase in cross section
that the size of the core at the other end is comparable or greater to
that of a multimode fiber. These tapers effectively expand the singlemode spot size and are envisioned as basic building blocks in a multitude of optical components.
Analytical and experimental studies, at X = 0.63 pm, show that the
dominant mode is preserved while traveling through the taper, from
either direction. The excess coupling loss between two tapers
is less
than 0.1 dB. The sensitivity of the excess loss to lateral and axial displacements for two coupled tapered sections is greatly reduced compared to that between two single-mode fibers. The sensitivity to angular displacementis increased butis within practical limits.For example,
for anexcess loss of 0.5 dB, the maximum allowed lateral displacement
is 3.1 pm for taper coupling, while only 0.73 pm is allowed in the case
of fiber coupling. An axial displacement of 291 pm for taper coupling
produces 0.5 dB loss while a displacement of only 16.5 pm produces a
0.5 dB loss for fiber coupling. For the same loss, angular displacements
of 0.42" for the tapers and 1.77" for the fiber are allowed.

I.INTRODUCTION
INGLE-MODE fiber is rapidly becoming the medium
of choice for lightwave communications systems carrying long distance terrestrial and submarine traffic as well
as local distribution and local areanetworks traffic. Widespread and convenient utilization of single-mode fibers requires reliable and reasonably priced hardwaresuch as
low-loss backplane and field connectors, laser-fiber couplers, and directionalcouplers.The
main drawback of
single-mode fibers, which makes fabrication of these
components difficult, is their small core size, on the order
of 5-10 pm. All hardware constructed from and for these
fibers, where two cores or light source and core have to
bealigned,are
inherently very sensitive to axialand
transversal displacements as well as to tiny dust particles.
These displacementscan be inducedmechanically or thermally, while the dust comes from just routine handling.
These problems can be greatly alleviated, if not theoretically eliminated, by the introduction of beam expansion optics. In this approach, components which could

Manuscript received May 28, 1986; revised July 1, 1986.

N. Amitay and H. M. Presby are with AT&T Bell Laboratories, Crawford Hill Laboratory, Holmdel, NJ 07733.
F. V. DiMarcello and K . T. Nelson are with AT&T Bell Laboratories,
Murray Hill, NJ 07974.
IEEE Log Number 861 1061.

Fig. 1. Optical fiber tapers. (a) Single-mode fiber with a gradual taper, (b)
two coupled optical tapers, (c) a practical optical fiber taper structure.

consist of spherical lenses [ 11, GRIN lenses [2], cylindrical lenses [3], and combinations thereof [4], are used to
increase the single-mode spot size and thus reduce alignment sensitivities. These discrete elements, however, introduce problems of their own. They themselves require
a critical and difficult alignment which must remain stable, and in addition they possess aberrations which limit
performance [5].
Another means of achieving beam expansion is by tapering-down asingle-mode fiber through heating and
stretching [6], [7]. With this technique the field is no
longer tightly bound to the core making it sensitive to external refractive index changes and mechanical damage.
Special means are required to reduce these effects [7].
In this work we present a novel approach to beam-expansion optics which suffers none of the deficiencies of
the previous approaches. We propose to gradually up-taper a single-mode fiber so as to enlarge the dimensions of
its cross section, by about an order of magnitude at the
end of the taper, Fig. l(a). These enlarged dimensions

0733-8724/87/0100-0070$01.00 O 1987 IEEE

AMITAY et a l . : OPTICAL FIBER TAPERS-BEAM

71

EXPANSIONANDHARDWARE

1 .o

0.8

In
3

0
a

0.6

Y
P

0.4

0.2

10

20

1
30

40

50

60

LENGTH [mm]

Fig. 2. Optical taper radius (expanded) versuslength. Actual taper is shown

in the insert.

allow us, in principle, to relax the tolerances of the axial

(S) and lateral (D) displacements (Fig. l(b)) while coupling energy from A to B with very low excess loss. In
this case thefield of the dominant mode is tightly confined
and guided by the core throughout the entire structure.
Conversion of thefundamentalmodetohigher-order
modes or radiation by the taper, which at the enlarged end
can support multimode propagation, must be negligible if
we are to maintain a very low excess coupling loss. We
show that for a gradual taper this is indeed the case. This
structure has the unique advantage of being self-aligning
and as aberration-free as the fiber itself. The fiber pigtail
will be permanently spliced to the end of the fiber to be
coupled into or out of. The taper is envisioned as a basic
building block for many hardware applications. The ultimate practical structure, Fig. l(c), may consist of a fiber
pigtail, and a tapered section followed by a cylindrical
section of the enlarged dimensions for simple mechanical
mounting.
In this work we measure the sensitivity of the coupling
loss of two tapered sections, as shown in Fig. 1(b), to
axial, lateral, and angular displacements by using tapers
with fiber pigtails designed to be single moded at X =
0.63 pm. Lateral displacement tolerances can be relaxed
manifold attheexpense
of angulartoleranceswhich,
however, still remain reasonable. Axial displacement tolerances can be relaxed by almost two orders of magnitude, thus relaxing the proximity requirements between
the two sections. We find that the tapers can be coupled
with very low excess loss-less than 0.1 dB.
We have also found that the Gaussian beam representation canaccuratelydescribethevarious
relationships
between the fiber parameters, the excess coupling losses
and displacements, thus permitting projections to tapers
with different parameters and operating wavelengths.
In the subsequent sections we shall describe our experimental and theoretical studies.
11. THEORETICAL
A N D EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES
Ifwe are to accuratelymeasuretheexcess
coupling
losses,thevariouslightlossesdueto
cladding modes,

higher-order mode conversions, or geometric imperfections should be easily spotted. We therefore decided
to
perform the experiments at X = 0.63 pm using a He-Ne
laser as the light source. A photograph of a typical taper
is shown at the top of Fig. 2. The tapers used in these
studies were obtained by reducing preforms in the conventional fiber drawing procss. The curve in Fig. 2, is an
expansion of the taper radius to more clearly show the
smooth transition from fiber through taper which takes
place over about 6 cm. The refractive index profile of the
taper and fiber is shown in Fig. 3. The cladding is of the
depressed index type and the core has a graded profile.
The tapers had dimensions for the fiber pigtails of either
130-pm OD with 7.27-pm core diameter or 1 10-pm OD
with 6.15-pm core diameter.
A. Modal Purity
In this series of experiments weverified that no noticeable amount of mode conversion takes place in the taper.
The experimental setup is depicted in Fig. 4. The He-Ne
laser is coupled via a lens into either the fiber pigtail or
the aperture of the taper. We observe the transmitted
light
on the other side. The light coupling and mode of excitation of the fiber pigtail or the taper is adjusted with the
x-y-z translating stage. The length of the pigtail is about
25 cm. In such a short length, the next higher-order mode,
if excited, can still propagate without appreciable attenuation, although it is nominally cut off. We have therefore
chosen the larger core fiber to. demonstrate modal purity.
Fig. 5 shows the intensity of the transmitted light when
the dominant mode was excited in either the pigtailor the
taper. At the top of the figure we see the intensity versus
radial displacement profile of the radiatedfield. As can be
seen, the dominant mode can be excited at either end, and
travel practically unperturbed through the taper, in either
of the intensity prodirection. The small variations on top
file are due to the graininess of the ground glass and disappear if the screen is vibrated during the exposure. We
thus conclude that the tapers are sufficiently gradual and
uniform,that no significant asymmetries, which would

72

JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY,VOL.

-- 0.002

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

-1.0

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

LT-5, NO. 1. JANUARY 1987

-0.2

1.0 NORMALIZED

RADIUS

I\
_-

Fig. 3. Graded index fiber characteristics:

GROUNDGLASS
VIEWING
SCREEN

x - v - 2
TRANSLATING
STAGE

x - y - z

GROUND GLASS
VIEWING

(b)
Fig. 4. Modal punty experiments. (a) He-Ne laser coupled into the fiber,
(b) laser coupled into the taper. Fiber pigtail length
- 10. Fiber OD
130-pm with 7.27-bm graded index core diameter. X = 0.63 pm.

(a)

(b)

Fig. 5. Intensity of transmitted light under dominant mode excitation. (a)

Fiber pigtail excited-transmission through the aperture of the taper, (b)
aperaperture of taper excited-transmission through single-mode fiber
ture. Same fiber and taper parameters as in Fig. 4.

perturb the symmetry of the dominant mode, are introduced. Also, note that the intensity profiles can be well
approximated by a Gaussian functionof the transverse radial coordinate.

When we introduce coupling asymmetry at the input

end, e.g., a lateral displacement relative to the center of
the core and/or an angular displacement, the next higherorder mode is excited Fig. 6. Movement pf the translating
stage in the x or y directions, away fromthe centerof the
fiber core, results in the transmitted fields of Fig. 6(b) or
6(c), respectively. As can be seen, once the next higherorder mode is excited, it stays pure and we thus conclude
that the purity of the mode of excitation at the input end
is preserved to a high degree throughout the optical tapers.
We alsotried to excite the higher modes, shown in Fig.
6(b) and 6(c), in the taper with the smaller diameter fiber
pigtail (110-pm OD with 6.15-pm core). Since the core
is smaller, these modes are in deeper cutoff. Wemeasured
the maximum power carried by these modes to be less
than - 30 dB relative to the powercarried by the dominant
mode.

B. Excess Coupling Loss-Analytical Studies

Here we study the excess coupling loss between two
tapers and its dependence upon the various coupling parameter, Fig. 7. The excess coupling loss is defined as the
ratio between the output power Po (in the dominant mode)
in the right hand fiber pigtail to the incident power Piin
the left hand fiber pigtail.
We adopt the Gaussian beam representation [6] for the
dominant modes in the tapers. The excess coupling loss
of the tapers will then be the coupling loss between two
Gaussian beams with parameters determined by the tapers. As we shall see, this representation agreesvery well
with our experiments.
For two identical tapers (or Gaussian beams with identical waists) the coupling loss is given by [7]

Ts

4
4

+ (s/X)2/7r2(W0/X)4

for axial displacement

TDI Ts

I =

exp I - (D/w0J2I >

for lateral displacement

AMITAY et al.: OPTICAL FIBER TAPERS-BEAM

73

EXPANSION AND HARDWARE

(a)

(b)

(c)

Fig. 6. Intensity of transmitted light through the aperture of the taper. (a)
Dominant mode-LP,, excitation, (b) LP,, excitatibn, (c) LPl0 excitation.

In our tapers, with a = 43.25 pm and A = 0.0025, we

have
wot = 9.19
pm,

wor/X = 14.53.

(6)

For the fiber pigtail, with core diameter6.15 pm, thebeam

radius wof was numerically evaluated from its measured
profile and found to be
w O ~ = 2.175,
w,/X
= 3.44.
(7)
So far we have calculated the equivalent waist size of
the taper output face but we do not know its location relative to that face. To obtain this value and estimate Ts as
S -+ 0, equation (1) can be written as
1
Ts =
(8)
1 (27~/X)~(w~/2R)~
where w # wOris half the beam diameter at the aperture
and R is its radius of curvature. For these very gradual
tapers,the phase frontsare practically spherical being
perpendicular to the conical surfaceof the taper. Wecould
thus estimate the radius of curvature from the taper geometry (Fig. 2) and find R = 1.3 cm. If we assume w =
wOtin (8), T, = 0.99896, and from (1) we find that the
equivalent beam waist is located about 11 pm behind the
aperture, justifying theassumption of w = war. The above
value of Ts corresponds to a minimum loss of less than
0.005 dB due tononplanar wavefronts at the faces of these
tapers.Thisvalue
would befurther reduced with the
straight cylindrical geometry of Fig. l(c).
Substituting the beam waist values
of the taper andfiber
of (6) and (7) into (1)-(3), we can calculate the
dependence of the excess losses upon the displacement parameters and compare the taper-to-taper andfiber-to-fiber excess losses. In Figs. 8(a) and 8(b) we note the
reduced
sensitivities of the taper-to-taper coupling losses to axial
and lateral displacements, shown by the dashed curve, as
compared to the fiber-to-fiber coupling losses shown by
the solid curve. The lateralsensitivity is reduced bv a facFor example, 0.5-dB loss
tor of 4.2 (the ratio of wor/wof).
corresponds to a lateral displacement of 0.73 pm for the
fiber while the corresponding value for the taper
3.1 ispm.
Wenote w e r an order of magnitudeimprovementfor
axial displacements. The 0.5-dB loss
point corresponds
~

(c)
Fig. 7. Displacement parameters. (a) S-axial, (b) D-lateral, (c) &angular.
Graded index profile X = 0.63 Fm.

for angular displacement

(3)

where wotis the equivalent Gaussian beam waist of the

aperture of the taper.
We can evaluate the equivalent beam waist radius wOr
for a parabolic profile [6]
(4)
with n1 being the index at the center of the core, a the
radius of the core, r the transverse radial coordinate, and
A the relative index differencebetween the core and cladding

74

JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. LT-5, NO. 1, JANUARY 1985

GRADED INDEX

-6

d = 6.15pm
w o / x = 3.44

-7

= 0.6328~111

'0

= 86.5pm
wolx = 14.53

0 EXPERIMENT

-11
-12

0.20

0.5

5.0

1.0

10.0

100.0

50.0

LATERAL DISPLACEMENT - D(pm)

(a)
I

1\o

I I I I I

I--

-.-&.-&.

\O

\ o

\O
0 EXPERIMENT

\"

z
0 - 6
IU
w -7

\"

\O

v)

-8

-9
-10
-11

- 12

d = 86.5pm
W

2=

14.53

\x
\
\
I

20

I I
50

I l l

100

I 1 1 1 1

500
1000
AXIAL DISPLACEMENT

- SIX

I I 1 1 1

5000

10000

(b)

-2

= 0.6328pm

-3 is-4 -

sz

-5
-6

F
a

-7

-8

EXPERIMENT

0 EXPERIMENT II

-9 -10

-11

- 12
0.02

l l l l l
0.1

I I I I I

0.5
1.0
ANGULAR DISPLACEMENT - 8 (DEGREES)

5.0

10.0

(c)
Fig. 8. Calculated and measured optical fiber tapers insertion (Excess cou(b) axial, (c) angular.
pling) loss versus displacements.(a)Lateral,
Graded index profile, h = 0.63 pm.

75

AMITAY et al.: OPTICALFIBERTAPERS-BEAMEXPANSIONANDHARDWARE

METER

(b)

Fig. 9. Experimental procedure for measuring the insertion loss of an opticalfibertaper.(a)Establishingthepowerlevelreference,(b)Measurement of insertion loss.

Fig. 10. Experimental mounting of two optical fiber tapers.

to an axial displacementof 16.5 pm forfiber coupling and

291 pm for taper coupling. The price one
pays for this
decrease in translational sensitivity is an increase in angular sensitivity of the taper coupling relative to the fiber
coupling, by a factor equal to the decreasein lateral sensitivity. This is shown in Fig. 8(c) where, again, the fiber
is represented by the solid curve and thetaper by the
dashed one. The 0.5-dB loss point corresponds to an angular displacement of 1.77" for fiber coupling and 0.42"
for taper coupling. Angular accuracies well below 0.42"
can be easily achieved in practice.
C. Excess Coupling Loss-Measurements
The experimental procedure is depicted in Fig. 9. Power
is launched into the fiber pigtail. The cladding modes are
stripped and we measure the transmitted power which is
carried by the dominant mode, Fig. 9(a). This
measurement, with index matching, establishes the power refer-

ence level Pi.We now add the second taper and properly
position and align both tapers.Thetapersare
held on
electronically adjustable micropositioning stages. We index match the space between the tapers and measure the
power transmitted from the fiber pigtail of the second taper Po in Fig. 9(b). The ratio P O P iis the excess coupling
loss which was previously discussed. These experimental
points are plotted by the circles in Fig. 8.
Fig. 10 shows the actual mounted tapers used in the
experiment. Examining Fig.8, wenotetheexcellent
agreement between theexperimentalandanalytical
results for the lateral and axial displacements. The results
of two series of measurements are displayed in Fig. 8(c)
for the angular displacement, showing good agreement.
The angular and transverse
measurements were made with
the tapers close together.
The taper length and profile used in this work are not
critical for preserving the guidance of the fundamental

76

JOLJRNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY,VOL.

mode with minimal loss. Analytical studies of step-index

profiles for various taper geometriesand lengths show low
loss for tapers as short as 1 cm [ 111.
111. CONCLUSIONS
In this work we have demonstrated the practicality of
optical fiber tapers as a basic building block for singlemode hardware. The tapers, which enlarge the dimension
of the dominant mode beam, are self-aligning elements.
When tapers are coupled to one another, theloss sensitivity to lateral and axial displacement is decreased manifold
relative to fiber-to-fiber coupling. We have obtained a very
good correlation between experimental and analytical results for the sensitivity of the excess loss of two coupled
tapers to various displacements at X = 0.63 pm. The tapers are essentially lossless for close coupling. The increased angular displacement sensitivity is within practical limits.

LT-5, NO. I, JANUARY 1987

was a Research Assistant in 1957, a Project Engineer in 1958, and an Instructor in 1959, all at Carnegie Institute of Technology. He served as a
Consultant on electronic instrumentation for Magnetics, Inc., Butler, PA,
from 1957 to 1958 and from 1960 to 1961. From 1960 to 1962, he was an
Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Carnegie
Institute of Technology, and a part-time employee of the New Products
LaboratoriesofWestinghouseElectricCorporation,Pittsburgh,PA.He
NJ, in 1962,
joinedthe BellTelephoneLaboratories,Inc.,Whippany,
where he conducted reserach in phased array radar and communication antennas,electromagnetictheory,andnumericalmethodsandanalysis.
In
recent years, he has been involved in
studies of satellite communication
antennas, digital radio communications and lightwave networks. At present, he is a distinguished member of the technical staff in the Local Communications Research Department at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel,
NJ .
Dr. Amitay is a member of the International Scientific Radio Union.

*
Frank V. DiMarcello was born in Hazleton, PA,
on February 22, 1939. He received the B.S. degree ingeochemistryfromPennsylvaniaState
University, University Park, PA, in 1960, and the
M . S . degree in ceramics from Rutgers University,
New Brunswick, NJ, in 1966 with a thesis relating
to the oxygen diffusion in sodium silicate glasses.
Since joining AT&TBell Laboratories in 1960,
hehasworked
onthepreparationandproperty
evaluation of ceramics and glasses for a varietyof
applications. He is currently involved in the drawing, coating and strengi th improvement of optical waveguides.