In a method for manufacturing an optical fiber probe in which an optical
fiber is formed as an optical fiber probe by etching a tip section and
sharpening a core region of the optical fiber, the optical fiber is a
polarization maintaining optical fiber including the core region, a
stress-applying region, and a clad region. The optical fiber probe is
formed by mechanical-grinding of the edge of the optical fiber into a
sharpened shape so that the core region is located at the tip of a
sharpened portion, and by dipping the formed edge of the optical fiber in
an etchant for further sharpening the core region. Accordingly, a new
optical fiber probe both with a high transmission efficiency and with a
large polarization degree is obtained.