Ofs Fitel, LLC

Lucent Technologies Inc.

Debra A Simoff

Mark Anthony Paczkowski

Yaowen Li

Adam Hokansson

Jacob Wrubel

Francis Michael Houlihan

Valerie Jeanne Kuck

Robert M Atkins

Kenneth Stephen Feder

Kariofilis Konstadinidis

David J Kudelko

Andrei A Stolov

Kenichi Suyama

Ulrike Varlemann

Nanze Patrick Wang

Mei Wen

Joanna Y Ng

Edwin Arthur Chandross

Rolando Patricio Espindola

Arturo Hale

David W Peckham

Daryl Inniss

David Burgess

Xiaoguang Sun

Lee Landis Blyler, Jr

Richard Tobias Olsson

Jennifer Aspell

Natalia Reyngold

An optical fiber comprising a core, a cladding disposed about the core, and a primary coating disposed about the cladding. The primary coating is cured during draw to at least eighty-five percent (85%) of the primary coating's fully cured primary-coating in situ modulus (P-ISM) value.

Optical fiber coatings

Disclosed herein is a coating composition comprising a silsesquioxane component having one or more reactive functional groups that render it curable using ultraviolet radiation; where the one or more reactive functional groups are selected from the group consisting of an acrylate, a vinyl ether, or an epoxy; and optionally, a co-reactive non-silsesquioxane monomer and/or an oligomer having one or more reactive functional groups that are curable using ultraviolet radiation and are selected from the group consisting of free radically curable acrylates, cationically curable epoxies, and cationically curable vinyl ethers; where the coating composition is disposed and cured on an optical article; where the optical article is at least one of an optical fiber or an optical planar waveguide; and where the average functionality of the composition is greater than one.

UV-curable silsesquioxane-containing write-through optical fiber coatings for fabrication of optical fiber Bragg gratings, and fibers made therefrom

Disclosed herein is a composition for coating an optical fiber comprising a free radically curable acrylate and/or a methacrylate functionalized oligomer having a density of less than 1.0 g/cm; where the acrylate and/or the methacrylate functionalized oligomer has a functionality of 1 or more; a photoinitiator; and optionally a free radically curable acrylate and/or methacrylate diluent monomer that has a density of less than 1.0 g/cm; where the coating composition is disposed and cured on an optical fiber; where the density of the cured coating is less than 1.0 g/cm; and where the average functionality of the composition is greater than one.

Low density UV-curable optical fiber coating, fiber made therewith, and method of fiber manufacture

A optical fiber having core and cladding regions, a primary coating, and a secondary coating may be defined in part by a curve relating the microbend sensitivity to a ratio of the elastic modulus of the secondary coating to the elastic modulus of the primary coating (as plotted on respective y and x axes). The curve has a substantially peaked shape defined by a positive-slope region and a negative-slope region. The ratio of the elastic modulus of the secondary coating to the elastic modulus of the primary coating is within the positive-slope region.

Optical fiber for applications requiring high system optical signal-to-noise ratio performance and low degradation from nonlinear impairments

Disclosed herein is a composition comprising 65 to 95 weight percent of a fluorinated monofunctional monomer; 5 to 35 weight percent of a fluorinated multifunctional monomer; and 0.5 to 3 weight percent of a silane coupling agent; where all weight percents are based on the total weight of the composition; where the fluorinated monofunctional monomer and the fluorinated multifunctional monomer are devoid of any trifunctional fluorocarbon moieties when they have 6 or more fluorocarbon repeat units; where the fluorocarbon repeat units are CFor CF moieties; and where a crosslinked composition has a shore D hardness of 56 to 85 and has a refractive index (RI) that meets the limitation of the equation RI&#x2264;1.368+10.8/X, where X denotes wavelength in nanometers.

Low refractive index coating for optical fibers, methods of manufacture thereof and articles comprising the same

A technique is described for fabricating one or more optical devices in a carbon-coated optical fiber. A photosensitive optical fiber is provided having a hermetic carbon coating. Further provided is a laser having a beam output that is configured to inscribe one or more refractive index modulations into the optical fiber through the hermetic carbon layer while leaving the hermetic carbon layer intact. The laser is used to inscribe one or more optical devices into the optical fiber through the hermetic carbon layer.

Fiber Bragg gratings in carbon-coated optical fibers and techniques for making same

Fiber bragg gratings in carbon-coated optical fibers and techniques for making same

This invention is predicated upon applicants' discovery that UV-induced gratings can be formed through polymer coatings that include conjugated double bonds and aromatic moieties. Coatings with low concentrations of aromatic-containing free-radical photoinitiators provide both reasonable curing speeds and sufficient transparency that gratings can be written through them. Moreover some of these aromatic-containing free-radical photoinitiators act synergistically with non-aromatic ketone photoinitiators. Advantageous aromatic-containing free-radical photoinitiator concentrations are in the range 0.01%-0.1% and preferably in the range 0.02% to 0.05%. Advantageous polymer coatings are acrylate-based coatings.

Formation of gratings in optical fibers coated with UV-curable polymer

The specification describes optical fiber coating materials and methods for making optical fiber gratings wherein the material of the optical fiber coatings comprises vinyl ether functionalized monomers, together with oligomeric or polymeric thickeners and a cationic photoinitiator. These coating materials are highly transparent to UV radiation used to write optical gratings in the optical fibers but still absorb sufficiently at other wavelengths to be cured effectively using UV radiation.

Vinyl ether-based optical fiber coatings

The specification describes processes for synthesizing vinyl ether functionalized oligomers or polymers, and methods for coating optical fibers with formulations containing these oligomers or polymers. Optical fibers coated with these formulations can be highly transparent to radiation used to write optical gratings in the optical fibers.

Vinyl ether terminated oligomers and polymers

The specification describes techniques for the manufacture of optical gratings in optical fibers. The grating pattern is written into the core of the fiber without removing the fiber coating. Coating compositions with high transparency to the actinic (writing) radiation but which are UV curable are described in detail. The coating compositions contain a UV photoinitiator that absorbs sufficient UV radiation to effectively cure the polymer but is relatively transparent to UV radiation used for writing the grating. The photoinitiator is one or more compounds selected from a specified group of aliphatic and cycloaliphatic ketones.

Method for the manufacture of optical gratings

The method of making an optical fiber refractive index grating comprises writing the grating through the fiber coating. The method involves providing optical fiber of significantly higher photosensitivity than conventional fiber, such that the grating can be written before unacceptable darkening of the coating occurs. Such fiber is H.sub.2 and/or D.sub.2 -loaded silica-based fiber having a Ge-doped core, the fiber selected to have a germanium-oxygen deficiency center content that provides the fiber with a photosensitivity that is at least twice as large as that of an otherwise identical, conventionally prepared, optical fiber. The fiber typically is drawn from a preform, at least a portion of which was exposed to a reducing atmosphere at an elevated temperature.

Method of making an optical fiber grating, and article made by the method

Recognizing the rate-determining nature of the coating removal and recoating steps, applicants have demonstrated that with proper combination of low absorbing polymer, glass and low intensity radiation, UV-induced gratings can be side-written into polymer coated fibers without removing the polymer, thus permitting up the possibility of high speed fabrication of fiber gratings.

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Simsbury, CT, United States of America

Debra A Simoff