Patent ID: 7357005

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a fiber optic collimator system including a first GRIN lens (Graded Index Lens) made of quartz glass containing a refractive index regulating substance formed of at least one material selected from the group consisting of Sb 2 O 3 , Ta 2 O 5 , TiO 2 and ZrO 2 , a first optical fiber fused to a first end of the first GRIN lens, a second GRIN lens made of quartz glass containing a refractive index regulating substance formed of at least one material selected from the group consisting of Sb 2 O 3 , Ta 2 O 5 , TiO 2 and ZrO 2 , and a second optical fiber fused to a first end of the second GRIN lens, wherein the first and second GRIN lenses are aligned so as to oppose one another and an optical element is disposed between the opposing ends of the first and second GRIN lenses, said method comprising: trial-producing a plurality of optical fiber collimator systems; measuring a horizontal position displacement and an inclination angle for the first and second GRIN lenses of the trial-produced optical fiber collimator systems; setting a targeted yield and a targeted coupling loss; checking the horizontal position displacement and the inclination angle against the targeted yield to obtain a permitted horizontal position displacement and a permitted inclination angle; calculating a numerical aperture of a GRIN lens based on the permitted horizontal position displacement and the permitted inclination angle; and producing the optical fiber collimator system by using a GRIN lens having a numerical aperture that is equal to or larger than the calculated numerical aperture for at least one of the first and second GRIN lenses.