Lucent Technologies Inc.

Other

David Andrew Ramsey

Nagesh R Basavanhally

Hong Tang

Mindaugas Fernand Dautartas

James Albert Walker

Joseph Earl Ford

Yiu-Huen Wong

John VanAtta Gates

Yee Leng Low

William Michael MacDonald

Dominic Paul Rinaudo

Gerard Edmond Henein

Edward A Pitman

Brian Stenger

Thomas Mifsud

Felix Anigbo

A clamping rack for securing an item to an object includes an elongated base member having two ends that each have a rear support surface projecting upwardly therefrom. At least one bottom support projects upwardly from the base member and has a bottom support surface oriented orthogonal to the rear support surfaces. Two pivot members each have an item engagement end with an upwardly projecting front support surface, and a tensioner engagement end, a tensioner fixed between each tensioner engagement ends to urge the tensioner engagement ends mutually closer. A handle member is fixed between the engagement ends and is pulled forward to pivot the front support surfaces away from the rear support surface to make room for the item to be placed therebetween. The item is clamped between the rear and front support surfaces when the handle member is released due to the resiliency of the tensioner.

Clamping rack

A coupler assembly for an optical backplane system having a backplane and two or more circuit packs connected to that backplane. Each circuit pack has an optical transceiver and the backplane has an optical pipe (e.g., an array of waveguides) adapted to guide optical signals between the transceivers of different circuit packs. A coupler assembly is provided for each transceiver to couple light between that transceiver and the optical pipe. Advantageously, the coupler assembly has a movable optical element that can accommodate possible misalignment between the backplane and the circuit pack. In one embodiment, the movable optical element is an array of MEMS mirrors, each mirror adapted to direct light between an optical transmitter or receiver and the corresponding waveguide of the optical pipe. In another embodiment, the movable optical element is an array of flexible optical fibers, each coupled between an optical transmitter or receiver and the corresponding waveguide of the optical pipe and having an angled surface adapted to couple light between said fiber and waveguide.

Coupler assembly for an optical backplane system

Apparatus and method for allowing fine adjustment of a diffraction grating within an optical wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) device and for maintaining the grating in near-littrow alignment (i.e., to within an accuracy of &plus;/&minus;0.003 degrees) over the device's operating temperature range. Precise alignment is maintained by use of a 0.3 PPM/&deg; C. &ldquo;super invar&rdquo; material in a wedge-shaped grating mount to eliminate an angular shift of the grating over typical operating temperatures. The wedge-shaped grating mount and thereby the orientation of the surface of the grating are adjusted precisely and maintained in position over the operating temperatures via a dual flexure structure wherein four precision adjustment screws with jeweled contact tips are tightened to achieve the desired orientation and stiffen the structure and then locked via locking nuts to prevent slippage.

Optical grating mount

In accordance with the invention, a electromechanical optical modulator comprising an optical membrane, a substrate and Fabry-Perot air gap between them is provided with an improved structure for controlling light transmitted into the substrate. Specifically, an etched and coated cavity is formed in the backwall of the substrate underlying the air gap to receive transmitted light and redirect it onto controllable paths within the substrate. Advantageously the substrate is silicon, and the cavity is produced by anisotropic etching.

Electromechanical optical modulator providing stray light control

The specification describes a packaging arrangement for micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). The MEMS devices are mounted on a ceramic platform and are then packaged in a hybrid package. The hybrid package may be hermetically sealed. The hybrid package uses a ceramic insert as the primary MEMS device enclosure. The ceramic insert is mounted on a polymer printed wiring board, which provides both support and electrical interconnection for the ceramic insert. Optical access to the MEMS device is through a transparent window that may be hermetically sealed to the ceramic insert. The use of a ceramic primary enclosure for the MEMS device array substantially eliminates thermomechanical instabilities and provides thermomechanical and hermetic performance for the elements that require it. The main interconnection and routing function, implemented using standard epoxy printed circuit technology, yields high interconnection versatility and performance at low cost.

Packaging micromechanical devices

The specification describes an alignment and attachment process for coupling optical components, such as lasers and photodiodes, to fiber pigtails. The alignment function is shared between two separate pieces of equipment, an alignment tool, and an alignment/attachment tool. Throughput for the alignment/attachment tool, typically an expensive tool, is increased by performing preliminary alignments using the less expensive alignment tool. The preliminary alignment generates coordinates for the position of the optical axis in optical components. These coordinates are transferred to the alignment/attachment tool thus reducing the portion of the time budget in the alignment/attachment apparatus that needs to be devoted to the alignment function. Thus at least a part of the time consuming alignment operations are done in parallel with the alignment/attachment process.

Assembling optical components

There is disclosed, an optical subassembly includes a platform on which a laser and photodiode are mounted. The laser has a rear facet through which passes a small portion of the light emitted by the laser. The photodiode is mounted on the surface of the platform with a light admitting facet for receiving a portion of the light emitted from the rear facet of the laser being substantially perpendicular to the light emitting facet of the laser. The surface of the platform may include a channel. The channel may be tapered from a narrower end near the laser to a wider end near the photodiode, and may be coated with a light-reflective material.

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Annandale, NJ, United States of America

David Andrew Ramsey