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. 17, 1995
Filed:
Apr. 06, 1993
David W Stowe, Milford, MA (US);
Porta Systems Corporation, Syosset, NY (US);
Abstract
The invention is a fiberoptic coupler formed by multiple optical fibers each having a core and a surrounding cladding and at least one spacer fiber having the refraction index substantially matched to the refraction index of the cladding of at least one adjacent optical fiber. The optical and spacer fibers are arranged, over a region extending axially through a limited length coupling region, in a side-by-side configuration wherein each fiber touches neighboring fibers. The coupling region is created by laterally fusing all fibers and is adapted to couple propagating modes of light between the optical fibers. Various configurations of the coupler include an arrangement of seven equal diameter fibers with a center fiber surrounded by six fibers, or an arrangement of nineteen equal diameter fibers with a center fiber surrounded by a first ring of six close-packed fibers and a second ring of twelve close-packed fibers. The number of the optical fibers and spacer fibers and their relative arrangements are selected to achieve desired properties of the coupler such as a number of optical input and output fibers, the coupling ratio or wavelength dependent coupling.