Aster Corporation

Thomas & Betts International LLC

Porta Systems Corporation

Alcoa Fujikura Limited

Fiber Optic Network Solutions Corporation

Adc Telecommunications, Inc.

Fiber Optics Network Solutions Corp.

Aster Products

David W Stowe

Frederick J Gillham

Colm V Cryan

James J Henschel

Michael C Corke

Stavros Dariotis

Daniel R Campbell

Margaret C Manty

Thomas R Ouellette

Paul W Fitzgerald

Dave R Maack

David E Haynes

Amy R Beaudet

James R Curley

Margaret M Parslow

Robin M Moran

Neville J Ronan

Stillman Shaw, Iii

Gregory B Papazian

Joseph E Vigeant

Dean A Werthman

Thomas Roy Burton

David J Miles

A system and method directed to an integrated fiber optic splitter assembly having at least two fused splitters disposed in a common substrate. An integrated optical splitter assembly includes a plurality of input fibers, a plurality of output fibers, and a plurality of splitters disposed on a single substrate to either split or couple optical signals between the input and output optical fibers.

Integrated optical splitter system

An automated fusion system includes a draw assembly for holding optical fibers and for applying a tension to the fibers. The fibers are held substantially parallel to each other in the draw assembly. The system also includes a removal station that etches or strips buffer material from the fibers after the fibers have been placed in the draw assembly, and a heater or torch assembly for heating the fibers as the draw assembly applies a tension to the fibers in a manner that causes the fibers to fuse together to form a coupler region. In addition, a packaging station is used to secure a substrate to the coupler region of the fibers to form the optical coupler.

Optical fiber fusion system

A fiber optic device for changing direction along a fiber optic path is provided. A first optical fiber having a first end portion, and a second optical fiber having a second end portion are joined at a fusion splice. A miniature bend is formed in the region of the fusion splice. The device is particularly useful for routing optical fibers in the field. A method of forming such a miniature bend in a fusion splice region between two optical fibers is also provided.

Miniature bend splice in optical fibers and method of forming same

An optical fiber Mach Zehnder Interferometer includes a first and second elongate optical fiber having a core and a cladding, first and second couplers wherein the cladding of the first optical fiber is coupled to the cladding of the second optical fiber. The first optical fiber includes a first elongate interfering arm where the first optical fiber extends between the first and second couplers. The first interfering arm includes a miniature bend formed therein. The second optical fiber includes a second elongate interfering arm extending between the first and second couplers and may also include a miniature bend formed therein. The miniature bends are contemplated to be either packed or unpackaged. The fibers may exhibit different coefficients of thermal expansion to maintain the path length differences of the interfering arms.

Optical fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer employing miniature bends

The present invention is a fused/taper fiber optic coupler and related methodologies for a fuse/taper fiber optic coupler with an FBG that does not excite cladding modes and maintains the coupling regions of the fibers in the proper relationship to one another without a complex and expensive process. Aspects of the fused/taper fiber optic coupler include the use of optical fibers with a three layer structure. The optical fibers include a photosensitive core layer, a photosensitive inner cladding layer, and a photo-insensitive outer cladding layer. Coupling regions are formed in each optical fiber by removing the outer cladding layer and the coupling regions in each optical fiber are then helically intertwined. The intertwined coupling regions are then heated and drawn forming a tapered area in which an FBG may be written.

Method of fabricating fused and tapered couplers from optical fibers having photosensitive cladding regions

An optical assembly has a miniature fiber optic bend fixedly attached to a substrate to form an integral assembly with an optical component also fixedly attached to the substrate. The assembly includes at least one optical fiber having an entering fiber portion and a return fiber portion. A miniature bend is formed in an intermediate portion that comprises an optical fiber portion between the entering fiber portion and the return fiber portion to provide a reversal of direction between the entering fiber portion and the return fiber portion. The entering fiber portion and the return fiber portion are preferably fixed in overlying relationship within a channel formed in the substrate. The resulting device is smaller, more environmentally stable, and more robust, because there is no relative motion between components. The resulting device also has fewer parts and processing steps to manufacture.

Single-sided fiber optic splitter with integral miniature bend

A fiber optic device for changing direction along a fiber optic path is provided using an asymmetrical miniature bend. The fiber optic device with the miniature bend is particularly suitable for components in which one of the fiber portions lies close to a surface, such as a single sided splitter. A method of forming such an asymmetrical miniature bend in optical fibers is also provided. In one embodiment to form the asymmetrical bend, entering and exiting fiber portions are offset along parallel axes prior to bending an intermediate portion. In another embodiment, the intermediate portion is heated at a location that is offset from a bending axis.

Asymmetrical miniature bends in optical fibers and method of forming same

A varied ratio coupler, and a method of forming the same, constructed and arranged, in a unitary structure, to cause optical power in an input optical fiber to couple asymmetrically to at least two output optical fibers in a manner establishing different insertion losses between the input fiber and at least two output optical fibers. The coupler includes a central fiber surrounded by a close-packed ring of fibers. In certain preferred embodiments, the coupler has a bend that lies in a preselected plane and has a radius of curvature that is selected to provide the above difference in the insertion losses.

Varied insertion loss fiber optic coupling and method of making same

For communicating over optical routes, route monitoring and protection are provided. In routes carrying signals on each of a number of wave lengths a tapped fraction of the signal is demultiplexed and an individual wave length is detected for determining performance and for triggering switching to alternative monitored routes carrying the same signal. Switching of all wave lengths if one shows faulty, with either a single wave length or all wave lengths being monitored is shown. Performance of a long wave length component is employed to determine route quality for shorter wave lengths as well. In bi-directional communication systems, performance of a wave length moving in one direction through a route determines route quality for transmission in the other direction, as well. Progressive sampling and digitization of the tapped signal and comparison to a digitized reference enables high sensitivity of monitoring. Detected average intensity of a tapped wave length, detected error rate in tapped wave lengths and use of performance data fed back from the receiver telecommunication equipment are used to control switching from one monitored route to another. In a unidirectional system, a wideband coupler at the transmitter is used both to merge signals at various wave lengths and to distribute energy at each of the wave lengths to each route.

Optical communication monitoring and control

The invention is a fiberoptic coupler formed by multiple optical fibers each having a core and a surrounding cladding and at least one spacer fiber having the refraction index substantially matched to the refraction index of the cladding of at least one adjacent optical fiber. The optical and spacer fibers are arranged, over a region extending axially through a limited length coupling region, in a side-by-side configuration wherein each fiber touches neighboring fibers. The coupling region is created by laterally fusing all fibers and is adapted to couple propagating modes of light between the optical fibers. Various configurations of the coupler include an arrangement of seven equal diameter fibers with a center fiber surrounded by six fibers, or an arrangement of nineteen equal diameter fibers with a center fiber surrounded by a first ring of six close-packed fibers and a second ring of twelve close-packed fibers. The number of the optical fibers and spacer fibers and their relative arrangements are selected to achieve desired properties of the coupler such as a number of optical input and output fibers, the coupling ratio or wavelength dependent coupling.

Fiberoptic couplers having spacer fibers that have no optical cores

Miniature fiberoptic bend device and method

In one aspect, the invention concerns fused fiber optic couplers of the type formed from fibers of transparent substance each having a circular cross-section of preselected diameter. The fibers include a central fiber and at least one ring of closely packed surrounding fibers with at least some of the fibers being optical fibers that have a core and a surrounding cladding. The coupler is formed by the processes of providing the fibers, assembling them in a close-packed relationship, and heating and drawing the assembly of fibers in the close-packed region. We have discovered that the steps involved in forming such a coupler, introduce slight size variations that can seriously affect the performance of the coupler, and that these slight variations can be accommodated by slight, controlled, under-sizing of one or more of the surrounding fibers or over-sizing of the central fiber.

Fiber optic coupling

The invention features a fiber optic coupler package including a rigid substrate and at least two side-by-side optical fibers joined in a coupler region. The substrate has a coefficient of thermal expansion substantially matched to that of the fibers. Each fiber extends axially to opposite sides of the coupler region to a primary and secondary regions of fixation, at each side of the coupler region. In the primary region of fixation, each fiber is separately bonded in close proximity to a rigid mounting surface of the substrate using a small amount of adhesive contiguously disposed on opposite sides of the line of tangency formed by the fiber and the mounting surface. The adhesive is distributed to form a pair of substantially identical masses with mirror symmetry relative to a plane defined by the central fiber axis and the line of tangency. In the secondary region of fixation, extended outward from the coupling region beyond the primary regions of fixation, each fiber has a buffer coating and the fiber is bonded through the buffer coating to the substrate. The coupling region may be formed by the biconically tapered laterally fused process or by bonding the fibers together. The fibers of the coupler may be PM fibers, single mode fibers, multimode fibers, or their combination.

Growing community of inventors

Milford, MA, United States of America

David W Stowe