Wide-field-of-view optical detectors using fused fiber-optic tapers

Photodetectors used in wireless applications suffer from a trade-off between their response speeds and their active areas, which limits the received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Conventional light-focusing elements used to improve the SNR narrow the field of view (FOV). Herein, we demonstrate a versatile imaging light-focusing element featuring a wide FOV and high optical gain using fused fiber-optic tapers. To verify the practicality of the proposed design, we demonstrated and tested a wide-FOV optical detector for optical wireless communication that can be used for wavelengths ranging from the visible-light band to the near infrared. The proposed detector offers improvements over luminescent wide-FOV detectors, including higher efficiency, a broader modulation bandwidth, and indefinite stability.