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:
Dec. 31, 2002
Filed:
Jan. 10, 2001
Reto Holzner, Zurich, CH;
Thomas Brunschwiler, Arbon, CH;
Josef Wagner, Buchs, CH;
Alex Dommann, Buchs, CH;
Andreas Mündle, Satteins, AT;
Jakob Jütz, Grabs, CH;
Contraves Space AG, Zurich, CH;
Abstract
The optical waveguide coupler comprises a structure ( ) of a number of elongated narrow optical waveguide strips ( ), which consist respectively of a front area ( ), a center area ( ) and a coupling area ( ). The center area ( ) has respective transition areas ( ) and ( ) to the corresponding area ( ) or ( ). A gap ( ) in the front areas ( ) provided between two adjoining strips ( ) is larger than the thickness of the narrow strips ( ). The front faces ( ) of the front areas ( ), and the front faces of the coupling areas ( ) are embodied to be as smooth as possible, wherein all strips form a stack in the coupling area ( ). The gaps are pits which result from etching of an Si substrate with the aid of a DRIE etching process.