White Paper: Choosing Ball Or GRIN Lenses

By Timothy Clark and Keith Wanser

In modern telecommunication systems, micro-optic components couple light between fibers, from laser diodes to fibers and from fibers to detectors, as well as collimate light from fibers in thin film filter dense WDMs. Both ball lenses and graded index (GRIN) lenses may be employed in these roles. In this article lens properties are discussed and instances where one class of optic may be superior to another are noted.