Chromis Fiberoptics, Inc.

Fitel USA Corporation

Lucent Technologies Inc.

University of Kansas

Whitney Ryan White

Christopher P Junk

Lee Landis Blyler, Jr

John David Weld

George J Shevchuk

Mark Brandon Shiflett

Arthur Clifford Hart, Jr

Giorgio Giaretta

Gabor Kiss

Ramabhadra Ratnagiri

Abby Noelle Harders

Nazi Faisal Chowdhury

Described herein are articles for separating gases. The article includes an amorphous fluorinated copolymer containing one or more types of fluorinated dioxolane ring monomers, and one or more types of fluorinated non-dioxolane ring monomers, optionally with crosslinking between the fluorinated copolymer chains. The copolymers of fluorinated dioxolane ring monomers and fluorinated non-dioxolane ring monomers show a large differential in the permeability of certain gases compared with other gases. The resulting polymer membranes have superior selectivity and reliability performance in certain gas separations compared with previous compositions known to the art. Methods for making and using the article described are also provided.

Gas separation articles composed of amorphous fluorinated copolymers of dioxolanes and other fluorinated ring monomers and methods of making and using thereof

Described herein are separation articles such as, for example, films, membranes and the like separating at least one component from a gaseous mixture comprising two or more components comprising difluoromethane (HFC-32, CHF) and pentafluoroethane (HFC-125, CFH). The disclosed articles include a 'selective layer' that is selectively permeable for the desired component to be separated from the gas mixture. The selective layer is composed of an amorphous fluorinated copolymer. Optionally, the article may include other layers which serve various purposes such as, for example, a porous support layer, a “gutter layer,” which allows the permeate gas to pass from the selective layer to the porous layer with minimal flow impedance, and a protective layer, which protects the selective layer from fouling. Each component of the separation articles described herein and methods for making and using the same are provided below.

Separation articles and methods for using the same for selectively removing difluoromethane from a gasesous mixture

Described herein are optically transparent and semipermeable windows composed of at least one layer of an amorphous crosslinked fluorinated copolymer. Also disclosed are a process and apparatus for three-dimensional continuous liquid interface production (CLIP) printing using the windows described herein. The amorphous crosslinked fluorinated copolymers have improved mechanical properties, thereby reducing the susceptibility of the window to brittle failures such as cracking and crack propagation. The gas permeable windows have superior durability and reliability compared with other available structures and compositions.

Gas permeable windows composed of amorphous crosslinked fluorinated copolymers and methods of making and using thereof

Described herein are articles for separating gases. The article includes a selective layer consisting of a crosslinked amorphous fluorinated copolymer containing one or more types of fluorinated ring monomers, with crosslinking between the fluorinated copolymer chains. The crosslinking improves the mechanical properties of the fluoropolymer, thereby permitting use of polymer types which would otherwise be excessively brittle. The resulting crosslinked polymer membranes have superior selectivity and reliability performance compared with previous compositions known to the art. Methods for making and using the article described are also provided.

Gas separation articles composed of amorphous crosslinked fluorinated copolymers and methods of making and using thereof

A polymer optical fiber is provided which shows improved hydrolytic stability. This fiber comprises a polymeric optical core and cladding layer, surrounded by a polymeric overcladding layer which comprises a miscible blend of one or more hydrolytically stable amorphous polymers. By varying the ratios of the component polymers in the overcladding blend, the glass transition temperature and the coefficient of thermal expansion of the overcladding layer may be tuned to optimize the attenuation and bandwidth of the plastic optical fiber.

Polymer optical fiber with tunable, hydrolytically stable overcladding

The present disclosure includes an optical fiber ribbon, using polymer optical fibers and an extremely thin adhesive coating to provide adhesion between the fibers. The external surfaces of the optical fiber ribbons are precisely placed with respect to the optical cores of the constituent fibers, and the optical cores of the fibers are precisely placed with respect to each other. Therefore, the external surface of the ribbon is used as a reference surface for aligning the array of optical fiber cores to arrays of optical emitters or detectors at the ends of the ribbon. Thus, the optical fiber ribbon of the present disclosure is cut, either by a sharp blade or other tool as suitable to expose a cross-section of the ribbon, and inserted as a single unit into a receptacle that aligns the outer surface of the ribbon with respect to the array of optical emitters or detectors.

Monolithic polymer optical fiber ribbon

In the present disclosure, a termination apparatus and process is disclosed that optimizes the termination of polymer optical fiber ribbons, eliminates the need for a ferrule and connector, and utilizes lower-cost materials instead of diamond for the cutting blade.

Apparatus and process for termination of polymer optical fiber ribbons

A preform from which plastic optical fiber is to be drawn in an infrared heating furnace has a core portion with either a step index or graded-index profile, and a cladding layer surrounding the core portion, the cladding layer. A jacket layer surrounds the cladding layer and is also made of an at least partially fluorinated jacket material.

Plastic optical fiber preform

Multimode optical fiber having reduced intermodal dispersion

The invention relates to plastic optical fiber (POF) processes and systems and involves improved non-polishing termination techniques. The techniques provide good physical and optical characteristics, i.e., smoothness, at the termination point, thereby providing lower losses than conventionally obtained. According to one embodiment, POF is cut while the fiber is under compression. According to another embodiment, the POF is notched and then pulled at a relatively high strain rate to induce fracture. The rate is such that the strain remains in the elastic region, i.e., the fiber exhibits brittle, as opposed to ductile, behavior during the strain. The brittle behavior provides a smooth termination surface, as opposed to a plastically-deformed surface.

System comprising plastic optical fiber

A system containing an improved adapter for passively aligning an active device such as a transceiver with an optical fiber having a 100 to 250 &mgr;m core is provided, such that the resulting coupling is within alignment tolerances, and provides desired coupling efficiencies and bit rates. In one embodiment, the system contains a packaged active device having a window or a lens, an optical fiber having a core of a diameter ranging from 100 to 250 &mgr;m, and a fiber connector attached to an end of the optical fiber such that a fiber endface is provided. The system further contains an adapter comprising a first receptacle that secures the fiber connector and a second receptacle that secures the packaged device, wherein the exterior of the device package, in combination with the second receptacle, itself provides passive alignment within the adapter.

Optical system having improved fiber-device coupling

An improved process for extruding plastic optical fiber without the need to prepare a preform is provided. Specifically, it was discovered that conventional extrusion techniques, e.g., screw extruders, tended to introduce an undesirable amount of particulate contaminants which increased the loss of the drawn fiber. To overcome this problem, the invention substantially reduces the number of mechanical interactions that contribute to such contamination. The process of the invention does so by using fluid pressure, instead of, e.g., screw extruders, to induce polymer flow. The process also controls the flow characteristics of the polymer, or halts the flow altogether, without mechanical controls. Specifically, the temperature of the sections through which the polymer flows is controllably adjusted, such that it is possible to bring the polymer to a desired flow rate or even to a solid state to provide a plug.

Extrusion process for fabricating plastic optical fiber

Mode-coupled plastic or glass optical fibers are used in communications systems to carry optical signals between transmitters and receivers. In order to overcome the high attenuation characteristics of mode-coupled optical fibers, the launch power used to transmit signals over the optical links is higher than those typically used in comparable conventional communications systems that rely on standard single-mode or multimode glass optical fibers. In order to accommodate the larger launch power levels, the communications systems are designed with receivers having a larger dynamic range than those used in conventional communications systems. In addition, the mode-coupled optical fibers can have diameters on the order of 50-62.5 microns, or even larger, thereby enabling the use of relatively simple and inexpensive butt coupling between the fibers and other system components (e.g., transmitters and receivers).

Use of mode coupled optical fiber in communications systems

We have determined that unlike the most multimode silica fiber, multimode polymer fiber often exhibits a delay characteristic that has a broad low dispersion region where propagation delay of spatially restricted optical pulses remains relatively constant. This low dispersion region is centered around the center axis of the fiber core as a function of launch position. By directing a transmitted optical pulse to this region, we have determined that optical pulse dispersion can be significantly reduced without the need for using the prior art technique of using a single mode fiber spliced in series with the multimode fiber to reduce dispersion. A polymer fiber based optical transmission system using this arrangement exhibits relaxed alignment tolerances between the optical source and polymer fiber, while reducing dispersion and increasing bandwidth-length product.

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Watchung, NJ, United States of America

Whitney Ryan White