No-polish optical element attachment for optical fiber ferrule

• US 9,645,328 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2014
• Issued: 05/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rusnano Joint Stock Company
• Original Assignee: Compass Electro Optical Systems Ltd.
• Inventors: Cabessa, Moti, Chayun, Idan
• Primary Examiner(s): Gross, Carson
• Application Number:
  US14/526,774
• Publication Number:
  US 20160124153A1
• Time in Patent Office: 923 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/32 having lens focusing means positioned between opposed fibre ends with lens being an integral part of the single fibre end G02B6/262
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3644 the coupling means being through-holes or wall apertures
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3672 with fibres arranged in a regular matrix array
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3692 with surface micromachining involving etching, e.g. wet or dry etching steps surface micromachining involving subtractive techniques B81C1/00055
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3837 forwarding or threading methods of light guides into apertures of ferrule centering means
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3843 with auxiliary facilities for movably aligning or adjusting the fibre within its ferrule, e.g. measuring position or eccentricity testing the alignment of axes, including eccentricity, G01B11/27
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3885 Multicore or multichannel optical connectors, i.e. one single ferrule containing more than one fibre, e.g. ribbon type optical ribbon cable G02B6/4403, G02B6/448

Abstract

Systems and method for attaching optical elements to a multi-fiber ferrule. The method may include the steps of acquiring a ferrule having a plurality of holes and an output side; providing an optical element having a flat surface such that an orientation of the flat surface of the optical element is facing the output side of the ferrule within a predetermined tolerance; applying an adhesive to the flat surface of the optical element or the output side of the ferrule, the adhesive selected to match the refractive index of the optical element; moving at least one of the optical element and the ferrule with a controlled velocity and acceleration such that the flat surface of the optical element pushes against all of the protruding fibers; and curing the applied adhesive to attach the optical element to the ferrule.

Claims

1. A method for mounting an optical element to a ferrule, comprising:

acquiring a ferrule having a plurality of holes and an output side;

inserting a plurality of optical fibers into the plurality of holes so that an end of each of the plurality of fibers protrudes past the output side of the ferrule;

providing an optical element having a flat surface;

applying an adhesive to the flat surface of the optical element or the output side of the ferrule, the adhesive selected to match the refractive index of the optical element;

moving at least one of the optical element and the ferrule with a controlled velocity such that the flat surface of the optical element pushes all of the protruding fibers back into their corresponding holes until the flat surface of the optical element contacts the output side of the ferrule; and

curing the applied adhesive to attach the optical element to the ferrule.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying an adhesive to the output side.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying an adhesive to the plurality of holes.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the adhesive applied to the plurality of holes enters the holes to surround the optical fibers by means of capillary action.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the optical element is a microlens.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising using computer vision to determine a length of protrusion past the output side of the ferrule for each of the plurality of optical fibers.