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:
Aug. 17, 2004
Filed:
Mar. 19, 2002
Calvin M. Miller, Naples, FL (US);
Mark Lehi Jones, Atlanta, GA (US);
Kevin Hsu, Roswell, GA (US);
Phil Santangelo, Winder, GA (US);
Micron Optics, Inc., Atlanta, GA (US);
Abstract
The invention relates to devices and methods for tuning a fiber grating. A fiber containing a fiber grating is uniformly, precisely and reproducibly bent by first embedding the fiber in a substrate or mounting the fiber on a substrate parallel to the longitudinal (long) axis of the substrate and applying appropriate force to bend the substrate perpendicular to the length of the fiber, i.e., perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the substrate. Embedding of the fiber carrying the fiber grating parallel to, but offset from the plane containing the central axis which is normal to the bend of the substrate allows bending of the substrate along that central axis of the substrate to achieve enhanced fiber compression or stretching. The fiber grating is tuned preferably by application of force to the substrate to bend the substrate such that the radius of the bend uniformly increases or decreases at least along the length of the fiber grating in the substrate. In specific embodiments the substrate of this invention is bent by changing the diameter of a cylinder, loop or ring to which the substrate is directly or indirectly attached.