Optical fibre tapers show great promise as a simple and highly effective means of efficiently coupling broadband light into astronomical instruments. Fibre tapers can replace bulk optics systems such as focal plane reduction and magnification optics by controlling and manipulating image scale and beam angle in a small, robust and cost effective device. However, like any new photonic device fibre tapers must be thoroughly characterised before they can be applied to astronomy. The specific characteristics of importance are the device’s ability to maintain the etendue of the system and to transmit light over a broad wavelength range with minimal loss. In this paper we present the manufacturing technique and preliminary results for the first large taper transition prototype devices manufactured in-house intended for astronomy applications. Characteristics addressed include: beam angle, focal ratio degradation and throughput for devices with a conversion ratio of 5 (5 x focal reduction or magnification) for two taper transition lengths.

Date Published: 13 September 2012
PDF: 13 pages
Proc. SPIE 8450, Modern Technologies in Space- and Ground-based Telescopes and Instrumentation II, 84503J (13 September 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.925404

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8450:
Modern Technologies in Space- and Ground-based Telescopes and Instrumentation II
Ramón Navarro; Colin R. Cunningham; Eric Prieto, Editor(s)