The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 20, 1987
Filed:
Jan. 15, 1985
William L Emkey, Bethlehem-Hanover Township, Northampton County, PA (US);
Curtis A Jack, Kutztown-Maxatawny Township, Berks County, PA (US);
American Telephone and Telegraph Company, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
A novel expanded beam coupling arrangement for use in association with single mode fibers is disclosed. An appropriate length of multimode fiber is fused to the endface of an input single mode fiber, where the length of the multimode fiber is chosen to provide the desired lensing conditions of the input beam. The multimode fiber is thus used as a lens, but provides many advantages over prior art optical connectors which use conventional quarter-pitch GRIN lenses epoxied to the fiber endfaces. In particular, the misalignment associated with the epoxied arrangement is reduced since the multimode fiber-lens connector of the present invention may be chosen to comprise the same outer diameter as the single mode fiber. Additionally, the use of a section of optical fiber as a lens allows for a fused connection to be used instead of an epoxied connection, which results in a more stable and rugged interface between the fiber and the lens.