Fiber optic corporate power divider/combiner and method

Abstract

A fiber optic corporate power divider/combiner for use in fiber optic systems is provided. When functioning as an optical divider, the invention includes a dielectric lens for converting incoming optical energy from a divergent spherical wave to a plane wave. A micro-lens array in optical alignment with the dielectric lens functions to partition and focus the plane wave to provide a coherent phase optical dot pattern. A fiber bundle is provided to receive and uniformly distribute the coherent phase optical dot pattern. When functioning as an optical combiner, the invention includes the micro-lens array to convert an incoming coherent phase optical dot pattern from a plurality of divergent spherical waves to a plane wave. The dielectric lens optically aligned with the micro-lens array receives and converts the plane wave to a convergent spherical wave and a single optical fiber receives and transforms the convergent spherical wave into parallel rays for transmission. In a preferred embodiment, the dielectric lens comprises a single hyperbolic lens which is in juxtaposition to a plurality of hyperbolic lenses forming the micro-lens array. The number of lenses in the micro-lens array is equal to the number of optical fibers in the bundle for permitting optimum transmission of optical energy.