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. 02, 2003
Filed:
Mar. 08, 2001
Corning Incorporated, Corning, NY (US);
Abstract
A fiber splicing apparatus of the present invention includes a support ( ) for supporting the two optical fibers ( ) such that the ends ( ) thereof are aligned and in physical contact, and a laser ( ) emitting a laser beam ( ) onto the ends of the optical fibers to heat and thereby fuse together the ends ( ) of the fibers ( ). According to another embodiment, an apparatus is provided for heating a region ( ) of one or more optical fibers( ). This apparatus includes a laser ( ) emitting a laser beam ( ) and an optical modulator ( ) positioned to receive and selectively modulate the intensity of the laser beam ( ) to project a modulated laser beam ( ) along a first optical path that terminates at the end ( ) of the optical fiber(s) ( )to be heated. This apparatus further includes a control loop ( ) to monitor the intensity of the modulated laser beam ( ) and control the optical modulator ( ) to thereby regulate the intensity of the modulated laser beam ( ) in response to the monitored intensity level.