MULTIPLE-CORE OPTICAL FIBERS AND ASSOCIATED COUPLING METHODS

An optical fiber (50) has two or more cores (46, 48) with respective faces (54, 56) on the fiber's (50) ends. The faces (54, 56) are oriented so that optical radiation can be coupled into or out of the individual cores (46, 48) thereby permitting, for example, optical radiation from the various cores (46, 48) to be spatially resolved in the fa r field. The faces (54, 56) can be formed on the fiber (50) by polishing the fiber (50) at an angle with respect to the cores (46, 48), i.e , with respect to the optical paths traversed by the optical radiation passing through the fiber (50).