SMART AR COATED GRIN LENS DESIGN COLLIMATOR
Anti-reflective (AR) coating on the back side of the GRIN lens with a specific coating performance to match the index of refraction of fiber glass, such as 1.47, and then to select an index matching resin to join the components with the same index of refraction as the rear AR coated lens and fiber in the ferrule, such as 1.47 again, thus to provide virtually lossless cavity, where n 1 , n 2 and n g are all the same, so reflective loss (RL) is almost infinite and no Fabry Perot effects are observed.
1 . A GRIN lens assembly, comprising:
a GRIN lens; and
an AR coating on a back side of the GRIN lens with a specific coating performance to match the index of refraction of an optical fiber; and
one of an index matching resin, glue, and epoxy to join the GRIN lens and the optical fiber with an equal index of refraction as a rear AR coated lens and fiber in the ferrule, where n 1 , n 2 and n g are all the same, so RL is almost infinite and no Fabry Perot effects are observed.
2 . A fiber pigtailed GRIN (Graded Index Lens) assembly, constructed of a GRIN lens with a AR coating on a back side of the GRIN lens having a specific optical coating performance to match the index of refraction of the glass fiber (typically 1.47), a index matching resin to join and fix the components with the same index of refraction as the rear AR coating on the lens and the glass fiber which is mounted in a ferrule, providing virtually lossless lens, glue/resin, fiber interface cavity, where n1, n2 and ng are all common so the reflected power at the cavity in minimized and the forward transmission power is maximized without Fabry Perot effects diminishing performance.
3 . A fiber coupled GRIN Lens (Graded Index Lens) assembly with a optical coating on the front side/transmission side of the GRIN lens selected to minimize light reflections at the air glass interface and maximize the forward transmission efficiency, plus a optical coating on the rear fiber coupling side of the lens specifically selected to closely match the index of refraction of one of a resin and glue and epoxy with a thickness of between 3 um and 30 um used to fix the fibers perpendicular end-face proximate to the rear of the GRIN lens and to match the refractive index of the glass fiber itself (Refractive Index 1.47), minimizing the reflected light and power and maximize forward light transmission of the complete fiber coupled GRIN lens assembly.