Numerical simulation of a gradient-index fibre probe and its properties of light propagation

In order to verify the properties of the light propagating through a gradient-index (GRIN) fibre probe for optical coherence tomography (OCT), numerical simulation using the optical software GLAD is carried out. Firstly, the model of the GRIN fibre probe is presented, which is consisted of a single mode fibre (SMF), a no-core fibre (NCF), a GRIN fibre lens and an air path. Then, the software GLAD is adopted to numerically investigate how the lengths of the NCF and the GRIN fibre lens influence the performance of the Gaussian beam focusing through the GRIN fibre probe. The simulation results are well consistent with the experimental ones, showing that the GLAD based numerical simulation technique is an intuitive and effective tool for the verification of the properties of the light propagation. In this paper, we find that on the conditions of a constant GRIN fibre lens length of 0.1 mm and an NCF length of 0.36 mm, the working distance of the probe will be 0.75 mm and the focus spot size is 32 μm.