Reliable Expanded Beam Connectors for Single Mode Optical Fiber Sensor Applications in Harsh Environment

TL;DR

This paper introduces a robust expanded beam micro lens connector for single mode optical fibers, demonstrating low loss and high tolerance suitable for harsh environments, with an application example in fiber sensors.

Contribution

It presents a novel expanded beam micro lens connector that improves robustness and alignment tolerance for single mode fibers in harsh conditions.

Findings

Low insertion loss achieved

High return loss demonstrated

Relaxed alignment tolerances in C and O bands

Abstract

We propose an expanded beam micro lens in standard single mode connectors, compliant with harsh environment connections. Low Insertion loss, high return loss and relaxed alignment tolerances compared with Single Mode Fiber (SMF) are demonstrated in C and O band. We give one example of harsh environment optical fiber sensor applications.