Characteristics of a hemispherical microlens for coupling between a semiconductor laser and single-mode fiber

A hemispherical microlens is fabricated on the end of a single-mode fiber by an electric arc discharge technique. It improves coupling efficiency between InGaAsP lasers with buried heterostructure geometry and single-mode fiber. The lowest coupling loss of 2.9 dB is achieved with the optimum lens radius of 8.5 μm. This loss is 4.4 dB lower than that with a butt joint. Experimental results of coupling efficiency and alignment tolerances in coupling with different lens radii in the range of
3.5-17 \mu
m are discussed in detail. The results are in good agreement with theoretical values derived by Gaussian beam and paraxial ray approximations.