A tapered lensed fiber includes a tapered multimode fiber having a gradient-index core and an optical fiber attached to the tapered multimode fiber. A method for forming a tapered lensed fiber includes attaching an optical fiber to a multimode fiber having a gradient-index core, applying heat to a surface of the multimode fiber, and pulling the multimode fiber into a taper. The method also allows for forming a tapered polarization-maintaining fiber while preserving stress rods and polarization isolation properties of the polarization-maintaining fiber.