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:
Jun. 01, 1993
Filed:
Nov. 18, 1991
Josef Berger, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Yishai Kagan, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Doron Mick, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Moshe Nazarathy, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Harmonic Lightwaves, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A laser generates a beam which is actively steered into an optical element having a waveguide which receives and transmits the beam. The waveguide is coupled to an optical fiber which is also actively steered. Both the beam steering and fiber steering mechanisms seek to align the beam from the laser to the fiber for maximum output. The beam steering mechanism features a pair of planar mirrors pivoted at right angles to each other. A precision force transducer will cause desired amounts of pivoting to adjust the beam. The fiber steering mechanism features a pair of flexures, arranged with bending moments of the flexures being at right angles. Electrical signals control the extent of bending in each flexure. The amount of light in the fiber is sensed downstream from both steering mechanisms and compared to an expected amount. The resulting error signal is sensed and used as feedback in a servo loop to iteratively correct the two steering mechanisms in order to achieve the best alignment and maximum light output.