Panduit Corporation

Asher S Novick

Jose M Castro

Bulent Kose

Richard Joseph Pimpinella

Scott R Hartman

Yu Huang

Brett Lane

Andrew R Matcha

Kevin A Marley

Brian L Kelly

A test apparatus has at least one optical source, a high-speed photodetector, a microcontroller or processor, and electrical circuitry to power and drive the optical source, high-speed photodetector, and microcontroller or processor. The apparatus measures the frequency response and optical path length of a multimode optical fiber under test, utilizes a reference VCSEL spatial spectral launch condition and modal-chromatic dispersion interaction data to estimate the channels total modal-chromatic bandwidth of the fiber under test, and computes and presents the estimated maximum data rate the fiber under test can support.

Optical channel bandwidth analyzer

An apparatus having input and output ports using a plurality of optical connector adapters, wherein the fiber connections can follow a specific mesh pattern has a plurality of fibers inside the apparatus. The fibers pass through at least one mandrel and are designed to produce a leakage in the transmitted light from each fiber of least −30 dBm, wherein the fiber buffer of fibers around the mandrel are partially stripped in at least one section. The apparatus also has an imaging system consisting of at least a lens, camera sensor and an optical filter are placed in proximity to the fiber striped section wherein the optical filter has spectral properties tuned or partially tuned to the operational wavelength of the network and the optical filter is placed in the light path before the camera sensor.

Apparatus and methods for monitoring optical networks

A patch cord for transmitting between a single mode fiber (SMF) and a multi-mode fiber (MMFs) has a MMF, SMF, and a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with a hollow core placed between the SMF and MMF. A mode field diameter (MFD) of the PCF hollow core section is in the range of 16 to 19 microns, the length of the PCF is between 1 cm to 10 cm, the MMF has 50±2 microns core diameter, the SMF has a 6-9 microns core diameter, and the coupling between the PCF mode to the MMF fundamental mode is maximized.

SMF to MMF coupler

Methods for estimating the Effective Modal Bandwidth (EMB) of laser optimized Multimode Fiber (MMF) at a specified wavelength, λ, based on the measured EMB at a first reference measurement wavelength, λ. In these methods the Differential Mode Delay (DMD) of a MMF is measured and the Effective Modal Bandwidth (EMB) is computed at a first measurement wavelength. By extracting signal features such as centroids, peak power, pulse widths, and skews, as described in this disclosure, the EMB can be estimated at a second specified wavelength with different degrees of accuracy. The first method estimates the EMB at the second specified wavelength based on measurements at the reference wavelength. The second method predicts if the EMB at the second specified wavelength is equal or greater than a specified bandwidth limit.

Methods for estimating modal bandwidth spectral dependence

A patch cord for transmitting between a single mode fiber (SMF) and a multi-mode fiber (MMFs) has a MMF, SMF, and a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with a hollow core placed between the SMF and MMF. A mode field diameter (MFD) of the PCF hollow core section is in the range of 16 to 19 microns, the length of the PCF is between 1 cm to 10 cm, the MMF has 50+2 microns core diameter, the SMF has a 6-9 microns core diameter, and the coupling between the PCF mode to the MMF fundamental mode is maximized.

Methods for estimating the Effective Modal Bandwidth (EMB) of laser optimized Multimode Fiber (MMF) at a specified wavelength, &#x3bb;, based on the measured EMB at a first reference measurement wavelength, &#x3bb;. In these methods the Differential Mode Delay (DMD) of a MMF is measured and the Effective Modal Bandwidth (EMB) is computed at a first measurement wavelength. By extracting signal features such as centroids, peak power, pulse widths, and skews, as described in this disclosure, the EMB can be estimated at a second specified wavelength with different degrees of accuracy. The first method estimates the EMB at the second specified wavelength based on measurements at the reference wavelength. The second method predicts if the EMB at the second specified wavelength is equal or greater than a specified bandwidth limit.

Examples disclosed herein illustrate systems and methods to determine and evaluate the quality of mechanical splices of optical fibers using insertion loss estimation. In at least some of the disclosed systems and methods, an optical fiber termination system may include a reference fiber coupling a light source and a stub fiber of a fiber optic connector, a digital camera sensor and lens to capture images of scattered light emanating from a portion of the fiber optic connector and a portion of the reference fiber both in a field of view (FOV) of the digital camera sensor, and a processor. The processor may analyze digital images of scatter light emitted from at least a portion of the fiber optic connector and the reference fiber to estimate insertion loss at the fiber optic connector.

Growing community of inventors

Chicago, IL, United States of America

Asher S Novick