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. 05, 2001
Filed:
Dec. 01, 1998
David F. Dawson-Elli, Painted Post, NY (US);
Corning Incorporated, Corning, NY (US);
Abstract
An athermalization attachment for countering changes in optical characteristics of an optical fiber or other temperature sensitive optical device in response to changes in temperature. According to one aspect of the invention, a curved composite beam is attached to the fiber. The beam comprises two layers of dissimilar materials. The layer on the outside radius has a coefficient of expansion greater than that of the layer on the inside radius, such that increases in temperature cause the outside layer to expand more rapidly than the inside layer, thereby decreasing the radius of curvature of the beam. The coefficients of expansion of the layers are chosen such that the beam's temperature response counters optical changes which would otherwise occur in the fiber in response to temperature changes. In another approach, one point on a low-expansion block is attached to a point along an optical fiber. A high-expansion bar is attached to another point along the fiber, and positioned with respect to the fiber and the low-expansion block such that expansion of the high-expansion bar compensates for the temperature response of the fiber. A variety of additional geometries are disclosed.