Alliedsignal Inc.

Allied Corporation

Corning Incorporated

E.i. Dupont De Nemours and Company

Monsanto Company

Honeywell International Inc.

Other

Lawrence W Shacklette

Ronald L Elsenbaumer

Granville G Miller

MacRae Maxfield

Chien-Chung Han

Ray H Baughman

Louay A Eldada

Kwan-Yue A Jen

Taiguang R Jow

James F Wolf

Scott Moore Zimmerman

Karl Wayne Beeson

James T Yardley

Michael J McFarland

Chengzeng Xu

James E Toth

Robert M Blomquist

Paul Michael Ferm

Han Zou

Vaman G Kulkarni

Macrae Maxfield

John Colvin Wilson

Kelly M Stengel

Robert Andrew Norwood

Ronald Richard Chance

Bernhard M Wessling

Chengjiu Wu

Jerry W Kuper

Jian Ming S Deng

Hefen Lin

Kevin Battell

Kelly M T Stengel

Linda B Townsend

Peter Whang

Jason Holman

Suzanne M Savner

Paul R Gifford

Helmut Eckhardt

Keith A Horn

Stephen M Emo

Charles Becht, Iv

Dawn M Ivory

Jane E Frommer

Deepti Pant

Gregory J Sellers

John C Campbell

Manish Sharma

George Boudoughian

Sharon Gould

Bernhard M WeBling

William R Mathew

Bernhard Weszling

Brian Brown

Lucy Ka Wan-Cheng

James B Palmisano

The invention relates to a process a process for forming single-mode, organic waveguides employing organic polymeric materials. The process reduces dissolved and gaseous oxygen content to very low quantities, resulting in production of waveguides having superior properties and manufacturability. Also provided is a process for preventing loss of light due to cores having flared ends. A waveguide is produced by sequentially a layer of a liquid, photosensitive buffer and clad composition to a surface of a substrate; deoxygenating under vacuum; overall exposing under an inert gas actinic radiation to partially polymerize the compositions below a full curing. Coating a photosensitive core composition to the clad composition; deoxygenating under vacuum, covering with an inert gas atmosphere; positioning a photomask above, but not in contact with the core layer; imagewise exposing the core through a photomask pattern to actinic radiation to partially polymerize the core composition; developing core; coating a photosensitive overclad composition over the image areas of the core composition; deoxygenating under vacuum; overall exposing the overclad composition, under inert gas to actinic radiation to substantially fully cure the optional buffer composition, the underclad composition, the core composition and the clad composition.

Polymer waveguide fabrication process

A hitless wavelength selective optical device includes a first thermo-optic switch (TOS), a second TOS, a first waveguide, a second waveguide, a third waveguide, a heating element and a control unit. The first TOS includes receives a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) signal at a first port of the first TOS. The second TOS provides at least one channel of the WDM signal at a first port of the second TOS. The first waveguide is coupled between second ports of the first and second TOS. The second waveguide includes a tunable filter that reflects a selected channel from the received WDM signal and coupled between the third ports of the first and second TOS.

Hitless tunable wavelength filters

A wavelength selective optical device for locking to a selected wavelength in an ITU grid includes a first waveguide, a second waveguide, a heating element and a control unit. The first waveguide includes a tunable filter formed in the first waveguide and the second waveguide includes a reference filter formed in the second waveguide. The heating element is in thermal contact with the tunable filter and the reference filter and the control unit is coupled to the heating element and the reference filter. The control unit varies a temperature of the heating element responsive to an indication signal provided by the reference filter to adjust the selected channel of the tunable filter.

Closed-loop control of tunable optical wavelength filters

A fluorinated polymerizable compound useful for fabricating planar optical devices includes at least one fluorinated alkylene or alkylene ether moiety and at least two terminal acrylate moieties, each terminal acrylate moiety being connected to one of the fluorinated alkylene or fluorinated alklene ether moieties by an ester linking group. The fluorinated polymerizable compounds, or macromers, of this invention are useful for forming optical components exhibiting a refractive index comparable to that of glass fiber waveguides, while also exhibiting very low absorption losses. Polymerizable compositions suitable for preparing optical components can be prepared by combining the macromers of the invention with a photoinitiator. Conventional optical monomers may also be employed, if desired.

Low optical loss polymers

A light-reflecting article having an average total reflectivity of at least about 93%, e.g., at least about 95%, for light in a 400 to 700 nanometer wavelength range comprises a thermoplastic or thermoset polymer matrix, such as an acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene-based matrix, in which is dispersed reflective filler particles such as rutile titania and a flame-retardant material. The flame-retardant material may contain a particulate metal oxide synergist, e.g., antimony trioxide or antimony pentoxide, and a quencher such as a brominated organic compound, e.g., bis(tribromophenoxy)ethane. The polymer matrix and filler may be selected so that their respective refractive indices and the size range of the filler particles satisfies a mathematical relationship having as a function thereof the mean freespace (vacuum) wavelength of the light range being reflected. The article may comprise a light-reflecting enclosure ( ) of an illumination source ( ), the enclosure ( ) having at least one linear aperture ( ) formed therein and enclosing a linear light source ( ).

Light-reflecting molded articles and methods of making the same

Improved linear illumination sources are disclosed which utilize external, highly reflective enclosures containing one or more linear openings and thereby achieve improved source efficiency, output irradiance and/or output radiance. Such improved illumination sources may be combined with additional optical elements to produce more complex illumination systems.

Linear illumination sources and systems

The invention provides organic optical waveguide devices which are lithographically formed and employ polymeric materials having low optical loss, good long term and short term stability, good flexibility and reduced stress or crack induced scattering loss. An optical element has a substrate; a patterned, light transmissive core composition on the surface of the substrate; and a light reflecting cladding composition on the pattern of the core. The core composition has a glass transition temperature of about 80&deg; C. or less and the cladding composition has a glass transition temperature of about 60&deg; C. or less.

High performance acrylate materials for optical interconnects

The invention provides organic optical waveguide devices which are lithographically formed and employ polymeric materials having low propagation loss. An optical waveguide has a substrate; a polymeric buffer layer on a surface of the substrate; a thin, polymeric undercladding layer on a surface of the buffer layer; a pattern of a light-transmissive, polymeric core on the surface of the undercladding layer; and a polymeric overcladding layer on a top surface of the core and on sidewalls of the core and on a portion of the undercladding layer; the undercladding layer having a thickness of from about 10 percent to about 50 percent a thickness of the core. The core has an index of refraction n which is greater than an index of refraction of the overcladding layer n and also greater than an index of refraction of the undercladding layer n ; wherein &Dgr;n&equals;n &minus;n , and wherein the difference between n and the index of refraction of the buffer n is at least about 1.5 times &Dgr;n.

Design of low insertion loss, single-mode polymeric waveguides

The invention relates to the art of optical fiber splicing. More particularly, the invention pertains to methods of splicing optical fibers with other optical fibers or optical waveguides. The invention provides optical fiber splicing elements useful for coupling optical fibers and for alignment of optical fibers with waveguides. The splicing elements allow for accurate lateral and longitudinal alignment and improved collinearity of spliced optical fibers, achieving low coupling loss.

Polymer gripping elements for optical fiber splicing

The invention relates to a micro-optic switch used for transmitting optical signals between optical fibers. More particularly, the invention pertains to a micro-optic switch using polymer structures to position a microactuator and optical fibers on a substrate so that the microactuator can move an optical fiber cantilever between two fixed fibers to transmit optical signals between either one of the fixed fibers and the cantilever fiber. Using polymers instead of micromachined structures to position components of the switch reduces cost and simplifies assembly. The invention further provides processes for producing a micro-optic switch and for switching the path of an optical signal.

Micro-optic switch with lithographically fabricated polymer alignment features for the positioning of switch components and optical fibers

The invention provides improved high contrast, photopolymerizable compositions suitable for producing high contrast waveguides. The high contrast, photopolymerizable compositions of this invention include a nitrone compound component. The photosensitive composition is an admixture of a free radical polymerizable acrylate or methacrylate component having at least two ethylenically unsaturated groups, a photoinitiator, and a nitrone compound.

Nitrone compounds as photopolymer polymerization inhibitors and contrast

The invention provides a waveguide connector assembly for the precision interconnection of mating arrays of parallel optical waveguides which are preferably photolithographically formed on substrates. The connector assembly has a base with several parallel channel walls cut along a surface of the base. A waveguide assembly is positioned on the base. The waveguide assembly comprises a substrate and several transparent, polymeric waveguides on and raised from a surface of the substrate. The waveguides have a polygonal cross section with flat edges. The waveguide assembly is positioned on the base such that each of the waveguides is set in one of the channels and contacts the walls of the channel at two or more points. A cover plate holds the waveguide assembly on the base.

Raised rib waveguide ribbon for precision optical interconnects

Growing community of inventors

Maplewood, NJ, United States of America

Lawrence W Shacklette