that has been pulled or extended along an axis separating its poles over a predetermined e g small portion 195 of the surface of the ball 160 the surface can be characterized as having two distinct radii of curvature r 1 170 and r 2 180 as shown in a side view of fig2 a and an end view of fig2 b of the fiber distal end the radius of curvature r 1 170 is greater than the physical radius r b 172 of the ball the radius of curvature r 2 180 is approximately equivalent to the physical radius 172 the distal end of the fiber can be further characterized by an approximately flat surface 190 oriented at an angle with respect to the axis of the fiber the surface 190 is configured to deflect light emitted from the fiber denoted as the dashed line in fig2 a so that the light passes through a surface of the ball 195 to a focus 200 the distal end of the fiber is further characterized by a region 210 in which the light guiding core 155 of the fiber is absent so as to allow light from the core to diffract and thus illuminate a significant fraction of the surface 195 the region 210 having a particular length l 215 can be fabricated through a destruction procedure of the core by heat or by fusion splicing a core less fiber to an end of a fiber having a light guiding core in the latter case the ball lens 160 and surface 190 can be fabricated from the material.