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:
Sep. 01, 1998
Filed:
Oct. 07, 1996
Harry B Bonham, Jr, Plano, TX (US);
Richard E Lucas, Jr, Plano, TX (US);
Abstract
A method and system for forming microlens (78) on an optical fiber (60) include optical fiber lensing device (10) having lowering mechanism (18) for inserting optical fiber (60) at a predetermined and controlled speed to a predetermined depth in oil-acid bath having oil layer (62), acid layer (64), and boundary (68) between oil layer (62) and acid layer (64). The next step is to etch optical fiber (60) at boundary (68) by forming meniscus (66) around optical fiber (60) to selectively and controllably form on optical fiber (60) a microlens (78) having a predetermined shape, preferably a hyperbolic shape. The etching includes the steps of first tapering optical fiber (60) to a shape determined by the distance that optical fiber (60) is first inserted into acid layer (64). The etch step further chemically mills microlens (78) on optical fiber (60) to the predetermined shape by controlling the etch time and position of optical fiber (60) relative to boundary (68) for etching optical fiber (60) at boundary (68).