Compact Micro-optic Based Components for Hollow Core Fibers

Using micro-optic collimator technology, we present compact, low-loss optical interconnection devices for hollow core fibers (HCFs). This approach is one of the key manufacturing platforms for commercially available fiber optic components and most forms of HCFs can readily be incorporated into this platform without the need for any substantial or complicated adaptation or physical deformation of the fiber structure. Furthermore, this technique can provide for very low Fresnel reflection interconnection between solid-core fiber and HCF and in addition provides a hermetic seal for HCFs, which can be a critical issue for many HCF applications. In this paper, several exemplar HCF components are fabricated with low insertion loss (0.5-2 dB), low Fresnel reflection (-45 dB) and high modal purity (>20 dB) using various state-of-the-art HCFs.