Optical fiber tap
First Claim
1. A device for tapping energy from an optical fiber CHARACTERIZED in that said device comprises a tube of transparent material adapted to substantially surround a continuous portion of an optical fiber and having a bend therein adapted to form a bend in said fiber, and with a first detector being optically coupled to a first end of said tube so as to detect optical energy propagating axially along a first direction of said tube.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Light guided by an optical fiber is tapped by bending the fiber, and substantially surrounding a portion of the fiber with a tube that couples a portion of the optical energy to a detector. The tube can be bent to increase the efficiency of collection of optical energy. The tube can be tapered to improve coupling to small detectors. The loss introduced by the tap is typically in the range of 0.001 to 1.0 dB, and the collection efficiency is high. The technique can be used for single mode or multimode optical fibers, and the fiber can typically remain coated. A large number of taps, typically several hundred, can be applied or removed without disrupting a signal carried by an optical fiber.
26 Citations
14 Claims
- 1. A device for tapping energy from an optical fiber CHARACTERIZED in that said device comprises a tube of transparent material adapted to substantially surround a continuous portion of an optical fiber and having a bend therein adapted to form a bend in said fiber, and with a first detector being optically coupled to a first end of said tube so as to detect optical energy propagating axially along a first direction of said tube.
- 8. An optical communications system that includes at least one device for tapping energy from an optical fiber CHARACTERIZED in that said device comprises a tube of transparent material adapted to substantially surround a continuous portion of an optical fiber and having a bend therein adapted to form a bend in said fiber, and with a first detector being optically coupled to a first end of said tube so as to detect optical energy propagating axially along a first direction of said tube.
Specification