METHODS FOR COUPLING OPTICAL FIBERS TO OPTICAL CHIPS WITH HIGH YIELD AND LOW-LOSS
First Claim
1. An optical fiber ribbon cable comprising:
- a plurality of thermally expandable core (TEC) optical fibers formed in a ribbon, each TEC optical fiber comprising a first end, a second end couplable to another optical fiber, and an optical core extending between the first end and the second end;
wherein the optical core of each TEC optical fiber has a first diameter at the first end and a second diameter at the second end, the second diameter being larger than the first diameter; and
wherein the optical core of each TEC optical fiber includes a tapered core section having a wide end between the first end and the second end of the TEC optical fiber.
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Abstract
An optical fiber ribbon cable is formed using thermally expandable core (TEC) fibers. Expanded optical cores are formed in sections of TEC fibers, so that each section of TEC fiber comprises a first region having an unexpanded core, a second region having an expanded core, and a tapered region between the first region and the second region. The respective sections are cleaved to length and formed into a ribbon. A hybrid optical fiber ribbon cable can be made by fusing single mode optical fibers of a single mode fiber ribbon cable with TEC fibers of a TEC fiber ribbon cable using a laser. The laser is also used to form tapered core regions in the TEC fibers to reduce coupling losses between the TEC fibers and the single mode fibers.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. An optical fiber ribbon cable comprising:
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a plurality of thermally expandable core (TEC) optical fibers formed in a ribbon, each TEC optical fiber comprising a first end, a second end couplable to another optical fiber, and an optical core extending between the first end and the second end; wherein the optical core of each TEC optical fiber has a first diameter at the first end and a second diameter at the second end, the second diameter being larger than the first diameter; and wherein the optical core of each TEC optical fiber includes a tapered core section having a wide end between the first end and the second end of the TEC optical fiber. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A method of forming an optical fiber ribbon cable, comprising
thermally forming expanded optical cores in a plurality of respective sections of thermally expandable core (TEC) fibers, so that each section of TEC fiber comprises a first region having an unexpanded core, a second region having an expanded core, and a tapered region between the first region and the second region; -
cleaving the respective sections of the TEC fibers; and forming the sections of the TEC fibers having the expanded optical cores into a ribbon. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of forming a hybrid optical fiber ribbon cable, comprising:
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providing a first fiber ribbon cable comprising single mode optical fibers, the single mode optical fibers having ends; providing a second fiber ribbon cable comprising thermally expandable core (TEC) optical fibers, the TEC optical fibers having ends; fusing the ends of the single mode fibers to the ends of respective TEC fibers using laser radiation; and forming tapered core regions in the TEC fibers, proximate the ends of the TEC fibers, using laser radiation. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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Specification