Patent ID: 7760978

Claim:
A tapered fiber bundle for combining a plurality of separate optical signals and providing the plurality of signals as a single input to an associated transmission fiber, the tapered fiber bundle comprising: a plurality of fibers for supporting the transmission of a plurality of optical signals, at least one fiber supporting the transmission of a substantially single mode optical input signal, wherein each fiber comprises: a core region for containing and propagating the associated optical signal, having an refractive index; an inner cladding layer surrounding said core region and exhibiting a refractive index less than the refractive index of said core region; a thin outer cladding layer surrounding said inner cladding layer, said thin outer cladding layer exhibiting a refractive index less than the refractive index of said inner cladding layer so as to capture any stray light propagating therealong, and having a thickness selected to controllably dissipate captured stray light away from the optical fiber; and an outer coating surrounding said thin outer cladding layer, wherein the stray light captured by the thin outer cladding layer will gradually tunnel into the outer coating over an extended length thereof, reducing localized heating of said outer coating by the stray light, wherein the outer coating has a refractive index greater than the refractive index of the thin outer cladding layer.