Optical fiber for applications requiring high system optical signal-to-noise ratio performance and low degradation from nonlinear impairments

• US 10,451,795 B2
• Filed: 11/07/2018
• Issued: 10/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OFS Fitel LLC (Furukawa Electric Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: OFS Fitel LLC (Furukawa Electric Company Limited)
• Inventors: Konstadinidis, Kariofilis, Peckham, David W, Simoff, Debra A
• Primary Examiner(s): Pak, Sung H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran, Hoang Q
• Application Number:
  US16/183,224
• Publication Number:
  US 20190146150A1
• Time in Patent Office: 349 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/02009 Large effective area or mode field radius, e.g. to reduce nonlinear effects in single mode fibres
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/02019 Effective area greater than 90 square microns in the C band, i.e. 1530-1565 nm
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/02395 Glass optical fibre with a protective coating, e.g. two layer polymer coating deposited directly on a silica cladding surface during fibre manufacture G02B6/02052, G02B6/02057, G02B6/024, G02B6/032, G02B6/105, G02B6/14 take precedence; coating on fibre gratings G02B6/02104; multilayer core or cladding G02B6/036; reinforcing splice joints G02B6/2558; optical cables, i.e. comprising protective structures external to the protective coating such as a jacket or plural coated optical fibres G02B6/44; coating of glass to obtain optical fibres C03C25/104

Abstract

A optical fiber having core and cladding regions, a primary coating, and a secondary coating may be defined in part by a curve relating the microbend sensitivity to a ratio of the elastic modulus of the secondary coating to the elastic modulus of the primary coating (as plotted on respective y and x axes). The curve has a substantially peaked shape defined by a positive-slope region and a negative-slope region. The ratio of the elastic modulus of the secondary coating to the elastic modulus of the primary coating is within the positive-slope region.

Claims

1. An optical fiber, comprising:

a core region;

a cladding region surrounding the core region;

a primary coating surrounding the cladding region and having a primary elastic modulus; and

a secondary coating surrounding the primary coating and having a secondary elastic modulus higher than the primary elastic modulus, the core region, cladding region, primary coating, and secondary coating together defining a total fiber structure having a microbend sensitivity, wherein a curve relating the microbend sensitivity to a ratio between the secondary elastic modulus and the primary elastic modulus on respective y and x axes has a substantially peaked shape defined by a positive-slope region and a negative-slope region, and the ratio is within the positive-slope region.

2. The optical fiber of claim 1, wherein the total fiber structure has an effective area of between about 110 and 170 square microns (μ

m²).

3. The optical fiber of claim 1, wherein the ratio between the secondary elastic modulus and the primary elastic modulus is less than about 1000.

4. The optical fiber of claim 3, wherein the ratio is less than about 500.

5. The optical fiber of claim 3, wherein the primary coating has an outside diameter between about 155 and 225 microns (μ

m).

6. The optical fiber of claim 5, wherein the primary coating has an outside diameter between about 155 and 200 microns (μ

m).

7. The optical fiber of claim 1, wherein:

the total fiber structure has an outside diameter of between about 190 and 260 microns (μ

m);

the primary elastic modulus is about 1 megapascal (Mpa); and

the secondary elastic modulus is between about 100 and 500 Mpa.

8. The optical fiber of claim 1, wherein:

the total fiber structure has an effective area of between about 110 and 170 square microns (μ

m²);

the total fiber structure has an outside diameter of between about 190 and 260 μ

m; and

the ratio between the elastic modulus of the secondary coating and the elastic modulus of the primary coating is less than about 1000.

9. An optical fiber, comprising:

a core region;

a cladding region surrounding the core region;

a primary coating surrounding the cladding region, the primary coating having a primary elastic modulus and an outside diameter between about 155 and 200 microns (μ

m); and

a secondary coating surrounding the primary coating and having a secondary elastic modulus, the core region, cladding region, primary coating, and secondary coating together defining a total fiber structure having an effective area of between about 110 and 170 square microns (μ

m²) and an outside diameter of between about 190 and 260 μ

m, wherein a ratio of the secondary elastic modulus to the primary elastic modulus is less than about 1000.

10. The optical fiber of claim 9, wherein:

the primary elastic modulus is about 1 megapascal (Mpa); and

the secondary elastic modulus is between about 100 and 500 Mpa.