A coating is applied on a first end face of an optical component which includes a cladding and a core for guiding light. The first end face has a cladding front face and a core front face. The core front face is covered with a mask, the coating is applied onto the first end face, the coating s removed from the masked core front face, and for covering the core front face, a lacquer layer made of a photo resist is applied onto the first end face. The photo resist is exposed to light from the rear side only in the region of one of the front faces such that light is input on the second end face of the component only in one of the two regions, and the lacquer layer is subsequently selectively removed.