Alignment tolerances for plane-wave to single-mode fiber coupling and their mitigation by use of pigtailed collimators.

We discuss the efficiency with which coherent plane waves can be coupled to single-mode fibers in the presence of deterministic or stochastic misalignments of the fiber relative to the focal point of a lens. We point out how the alignment demands can be relaxed by means of graded-index-lens fiber-pigtailed collimators.

[1]  Kim A. Winick,et al.  Spatial mode matching efficiencies for heterodyned GaAlAs semiconductor lasers , 1988 .

[2]  J. Y. Wang,et al.  Detection efficiency of coherent optical radar. , 1984, Applied optics.

[3]  J. A. Buck,et al.  Fundamentals of optical fibers , 1995 .

[4]  R. E. Wagner,et al.  Coupling efficiency of optics in single-mode fiber components. , 1982, Applied optics.

[5]  C. Roychoudhuri Engineering optics , 1986, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[6]  S C Cohen,et al.  Heterodyne detection: phase front alignment, beam spot size, and detector uniformity. , 1975, Applied optics.

[7]  S. Yuan,et al.  General formula for coupling-loss characterization of single-mode fiber collimators by use of gradient-index rod lenses. , 1999, Applied optics.

[8]  A. Siegman,et al.  The antenna properties of optical heterodyne receivers. , 1966, Applied optics.

[9]  John G. Proakis,et al.  Probability, random variables and stochastic processes , 1985, IEEE Trans. Acoust. Speech Signal Process..

[10]  W. Leeb,et al.  Fiber coupling efficiency for random light and its applications to lidar. , 1998, Optics letters.

[11]  K Tanaka,et al.  Signal-to-noise ratio in optical heterodyne detection for Gaussian fields. , 1978, Applied optics.

[12]  K. Tanaka,et al.  Effects of tilt and offset of signal field on heterodyne efficiency. , 1987, Applied optics.

[13]  B. Duncan,et al.  Heterodyne ladar system efficiency enhancement using single-mode optical fiber mixers , 1995 .

[14]  R. Frehlich,et al.  Coherent laser radar performance for general atmospheric refractive turbulence. , 1991, Applied optics.

[15]  I. Miller Probability, Random Variables, and Stochastic Processes , 1966 .

[16]  E. Neumann Single-mode fibers , 1988 .