Design and characteristics of a branching component for bunched optical fiber using two graded-index rod lenses

An optical branching component is proposed for coupling bunched optical fiber to mono-core optical fibers and the component loss and crosstalk characteristics are investigated. The component is constructed with two graded-index (GRIN) rod lenses for matching different parameters between bunched and mono-core optical fibers. The method of analyzing mismatching and misalignment losses is based on geometrical optics. Measured losses are found to be in agreement with the calculated results and demonstrate that bunched optical fibers can be branched with low loss. Crosstalk measurements show that crosstalk attenuation greater than 30 dB can be easily maintained in the component.