Amphenol Corporation

Donald W Duda

Eric Walter

David G Mead

David S Rifkin

Peter Chang

Eric J Repta

Darrin J Bergman

Wenzong Chen

Timothy Edward Clark

Philip W Schofield

Michael T Mayszak

A multiple channel fiber optic multiplexer, demultiplexer, multiplexer/demultiplexer, and/or add/drop component includes a plurality of Mach-Zehnder interferometer units, each unit including a pair of 50/50 fiber optic couplers connected by a pair of Bragg gratings and three functional ports including two multi-channel input output ports, one single channel input/output port, the Bragg gratings being tuned to a wavelength of the single channel input/output port, and input/output ports of adjacent interferometer units being connected to each other by fusion splices in a cascade configuration, the component including a first common input/output connector on a first of said cascaded interferometer units and a second common input/output connector on a last of said cascaded interferometer units, with the second common input/output connector being arranged to permit the addition of add-on multi-channel components. The cascaded components, which can be uni-directional or bi-directional, can be connected to each other as serial add-on units, or in the case of modular uni-directional components, be used to upgrade existing NWDM systems to DWDM systems having a greater number of channels by utilizing the existing NWDM components as combiners to connect the cascaded uni-directional components in parallel.

Modular cascaded Mach-Zehnder DWDM components

A shield for the end of a fiber optic connector or fiber optic connector adapter is disclosed. The shield includes a radiation absorbing element which prevents significant amounts of potentially harmful electromagnetic radiation from being discharged through the end of a connector or adapter.

Radiation absorbing shield for fiber optic systems

An adhesiveless fiber optic connector includes a collet mechanism having cable gripping fingers for initially gripping a fiber buffer upon movement of the collet into a body of the connector, and which is subsequently secured within the connector by crimping, includes keying tabs which cooperate with slots in the main body of the connector for retaining the collet within the connector prior to termination, and for preventing rotation of the collet during termination, the keying tabs being pushed out of the slots during termination to adhere to the main body of the connector following crimping. An apparatus for facilitating termination of a fiber optic cable to such an adhesiveless connector includes a transport mechanism to which the fiber buffer is clipped, and a guiding mechanism in the form of separable jaws for the exposed fiber, as well as a crimp mechanism and fiber cutting and polishing apparatus. The apparatus can be used to carry out a method involving the steps of preparing the fiber cable for termination, capturing a bare fiber in a guiding mechanism, securing the fiber buffer to a transporting mechanism, and transporting the cable so that the cable is guided by the guiding mechanism into the collet, after which the transporting mechanism is used to push the collet into the connector and force keys of the collet out of their slots and grip the fiber buffer.

Adhesiveless fiber optic connector, and an apparatus and method for

An in-line protection device for protecting fiber optic splices is disclosed. The device includes a rigid body having a central section with an opening sized to receive and house a fiber optic splice between two optical fibers from two fiber optic cables and an end portion having open ends to receive the optical fiber from the fiber optic cable. The fiber optic cables are connected to the rigid body by crimping a sleeve onto the cable and the end portion of the body. A strain relief device is placed over the end portion of the body and fiber optic cable to provide strain relief at either end of the splice protector.

In-line fiber optic splice protective device

A strain relief system for a fiber optic connector includes a boot made up of two halves, the halves being fitted together by press-fit pins supported by a flange which also serves increase the rigidity of the boot. The boot is held in place on the cable by using internal ribs at an distal from the connector. The force required to make the ribs hold the boot in place is provided by stretching a standard elastomeric boot over the outer diameter of the section containing the ribs. The system further incorporates a support clip at the connector end to assist the two halves in staying together and further resist lateral bending moments. The outer profile of the support clip can be adapted to fit a variety of different connector configurations, and thus the support clip also serves as an adapter for the strain relief system.

Strain relief system for a fiber optic connector

A strain relief system for the backside of a fiber optic connector has a controlled bend radius defined by the formula R=[(W+t).sup.2 /2(1-cos .phi.)].sup.1/2, where W is the rib thickness, t is the width of spaces between the ribs, and .phi. is an angle defined by comers of the ribs which engage each other at the minimum bending radius and a pivot point about which the ribs pivot relative to each other.

Fiber optic cable connector with strain relief boot

A fiber optic connector is provided for use in temporary repair of broken fiber optic cables. The connector comprises a ceramic plug having a front end and a rear end and a passageway extending through the plug with the passageway sized to snugly receive a buffer stripped optical fiber therethrough in a manner such that the fiber extends out the front end of the plug. The passageway has a size proximate the rear end thereof to permit a portion of buffer covered optical fiber to received therein and thus serves, at the narrow portion of the passageway, as a stop limiting the amount of forward movement of the fiber. A plug support serves to support the rear end of the ceramic plug and includes a passageway coextensive with the plug passageway. The wall surfaces of the passageway are such that they cooperate with a chuck which is attached to the plug support which has clamping fingers such that when the clamping fingers engage the wall surface, they serve to close down upon a buffer covered fiber to securely hold the buffer covered fiber within the connector.

Fiber optic connector for use in temporary repair of multiple fiber cable

The invention relates to a system for field restoration of severed fiber optic cables containing multiple optical fiber conductors therein. The system includes two hermetically sealable restoration connector containers having lids to permit access to the interior thereof. The containers are interconnected by at least one fiber optic cable containing multiple optical fibers extending therein with each fiber of the cable terminated by respective fiber optic connectors which are mounted on adapters in a panel in the respective containers for interconnection to temporary connectors used in field restoration. A plurality of temporary connectors are arranged within the respective containers and each container includes a hermetically sealable opening for passing a severed cable with the fiber ends extending therefrom into the container or by the individual fibers can be rapidly terminated by the temporary connectors and the ends projecting from the temporary connectors flush cleave with the end face thereof. The temporary connectors can then be interconnected to the adapters on the panel to is corresponding permanent connector and fiber connecting to the other restoration container.

Growing community of inventors

Williams Bay, WI, United States of America

Donald W Duda