Optical fibre multiport couplers

摘要

A star coupler for distributing light from an input optical fibre to one or more output fibres comprises a glass mixer rod interfaced with an optical fibre array and provided with a coating of highly reflective material at the array/mixer rod interface. The coating is provided with apertures which correspond to the fibre core positions such that the coating masks the cladding and interstitial regions of the fibre array. The end face of the mixer rod remote from this interface can be either uniformly mirrored or can be coupled with a second fibre array by a similar reflecting array/mixer rod interface.