Patent ID: 8351745

Claim:
A plastic optical fiber (POF) 2-to-1 optical coupler for use in a bi-directional optical communications link, the optical coupler comprising: a first branch POF having a first end, a second end, a core, and one or more cladding layers, the first end of the first branch POF having a generally circular cross section that defines a first end face of the first branch POF; a second branch POF having a first end, a second end, a core, and one or more cladding layers, the first end of the second branch POF having a generally circular cross section that defines a first end face of the second branch POF; and a coupler end face configured to interface with a first end face of a third POF, the coupler end face comprising the second ends of the first and second branch POFs, wherein the second ends of the first and second branch POFs are deformed in shape and joined together to form the coupler end face and to provide the coupler end face with a generally circular cross section, and wherein the coupler end face has a cross-sectional area that is 10% to 20% greater than a cross-sectional area of the first end face of the third POF.