Zetetic Institute

Gary L Womack

A high resolution optical coupling device includes optical coupling material bonded to a CCD wafer surface and a fiber optic bundle. The CCD wafer is bonded to a substrate, and a thermal compensation plate is bonded to an opposite face thereof to compensate effects of differential thermal contraction and expansion of the CCD wafer and substrate. Substrate-adjusting elements engage the substrate to shape the CCD wafer surface to match a mating surface of a fiber optic bundle before the thermal compensation plate is attached to the substrate. A null fringe pattern of an interferometer indicates when a perfect match is achieved. A thin layer of optical coupling material then is used to bond the CCD surface to the matching surface of the optic fiber bundle. Thermal compensation material can be included in a rigid hermetic seal structure between the substrate and the fiber optic bundle to reduce bonding interface shear stress in the optical coupling material due to volume changes thereof during thermal cycling. The optical coupling material also can be prestressed before curing of the hermetic seal structure to reduce such shear stresses during thermal cycling.

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Tucson, AZ, United States of America

Gary L Womack