Construction of fiber-optic bundle light-collection systems and calculations of collection efficiency Diana DiBerardino 1 , Robert J. Rafac 2 , Steven Boone 3 , Vladislav P. Gerginov, Carol E. Tanner * Department of Physics, College of Science, University of Notre Dame, 225 Nieuwland Science Hall, Notre Dame, Indiana, IN 46556-5670, USA Received 1 May 2002; received in revised form 1 May 2002; accepted 15 July 2002 Abstract This paper describes the position-sensitive light-collection system that we use in our fast-beam laser experiments. The collection system consists of fiber-optic bundles whose facets are arranged to accept light emitted from a beam of fluorescent atoms. The flexibility of the fiber bundles allows their use in scanning collection systems with precise po- sition sensitivity. We describe calculations of geometrical collection efficiency using a numerical integration scheme and compare the results with measurements. We also compare the collection efficiencies of the different fiber bundle arrangements that we used as our apparatus evolved with the implementation of various improvements. Ó 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 07.60.Vg; 42.81.Cn; 42.87; 29.40.G; 32.70.Cs Keywords: Collection efficiency; Fiber-optic bundles; Position-sensitive detection; Fast-beam laser; Atomic lifetimes 1. Introduction Fiber-optic bundles are commonly used in a wide variety of applications including fundamental particle detection [1], X-ray imaging [2], and au- tomatic inspection systems [3]. The collection effi- ciency of a single fiber-optic is limited by its small clear aperture and acceptance angle. However, fi- ber-optic bundles can be arranged to efficiently collect light from a geometrically complex source with excellent spatial resolution. One way to ob- tain spatial resolution is to detect individually the light transmitted through each fiber or small groups of fibers. Alternatively, the flexibility of fiber optics allows for scanning of the collection system over a spatially extended source without the need for steering reflective surfaces or variable 15 September 2002 Optics Communications 210 (2002) 233–243 www.elsevier.com/locate/optcom * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-575-6318369; fax: +1-574- 6315952. E-mail address: carol.e.tanner.l@nd.edu (C.E. Tanner). 1 Present address: 1425 K Street NW, 11th Floor, Washing- ton, DC 20005, USA. 2 Present address: Cymer, Inc., 16750 Via Del Campo Court, San Diego, CA 92127, USA. 3 Present address: Chemistry Department, Hanover College, P.O. Box 890, Hanover, IN 47243-0890, USA. 0030-4018/02/$ - see front matter Ó 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0030-4018(02)01765-0