Directional couplers of gradient-index plastic optical fibers were fabricated and characterized. In particular, we have employed a core-facet technique to make the directional couplers, which require mechanical side polishing and linkage. We have meas...
Directional couplers of gradient-index plastic optical fibers were fabricated and characterized. In particular, we have employed a core-facet technique to make the directional couplers, which require mechanical side polishing and linkage. We have measured insertion loss, excess loss, and coupling ratio of the fabricated couplers as a function of polishing depth and coupling length. We found that polishing depth of ~300 μm and coupling length of ~35 mm are optimum conditions for minimizing the insertion and excess losses and for achieving 1:1 coupling ratio.