Alignment of optical fibers to an etched array waveguide

Details Alignment of optical fibers to an etched array waveguide Alignment of optical fibers to an etched array waveguide

2000-12-15

2003-09-30

Nasri, Javaid (Department: 2839)

Optical waveguides

With optical coupler

Particular coupling structure

Reexamination Certificate

active

06628865

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The described invention relates to the field of optics. In particular, the invention relates to coupling a fiber optic bundle to a planar photonic structure, such as an array waveguide (“AWG”).
2. Description of Related Art
Fiber optic bundles and AWGs are both used for propagating light. A fiber optic bundle has multiple optical fibers for propagating light, and an AWG has multiple channels for propagating light within. Coupling a fiber optic bundle to an AWG, however, is not easy. Manual alignment requires detecting and maximizing light connectivity between the fiber optic bundle and the AWG. Once a good connection is obtained, permanently fixing the alignment is required.
FIG. 1A
shows a prior art fiber optic bundle
10
. The fiber optic bundle
10
comprises multiple optical fibers
12
sandwiched between two retainers
16
and
18
. The retainers are substrates made of silicon, for example, that are appropriately masked with a suitable etch mask. Thereafter, symmetrically spaced unmasked areas of the substrate are exposed to a chosen anisotropic etchant, such as hot KOH or ethylenediamine. This etchant preferentially attacks a chosen (100) crystallographic plane of the silicon substrate and preferentially etches in a vertical direction until V-shaped grooves (“V-grooves”) are attained. Upon completion of these V-shaped grooves, optical fibers are placed in the grooves and come to rest in alignment with the center of the V-grooves between the retainers
16
and
18
.
FIG. 1B
shows a prior art single retainer without the optical fibers. The two retainers
16
and
18
sandwich the optical fibers together as a termination block for the fiber optic bundle. The termination block maintains the spacing between the optical fibers and allows for easily handling the fiber optic bundle. The ends of the optical fibers
22
are typically polished after being set in the termination block.
FIG. 2
shows a prior art example of an AWG. The AWG comprises multiple channels
30
running through the AWG. The AWG may comprise a glass, silicon, oxide or polymer substrate. The channels are made of materials having a slightly higher index of refraction than the rest of the AWG. AWGs and fiber optic bundles may be made with various numbers of channels.
FIG. 3
shows a side view of a fiber optic bundle being aligned to an AWG
42
. The optical fibers of the fiber optic bundle and the channels of the AWG have identical spacings and number. A dotted line
45
shows the channels in the AWG. An epoxy
50
is used to hold the termination block
40
of the fiber optic bundle to the AWG
42
, but alignment must be maintained. It is difficult to achieve alignment, i.e., photonically couple the optical fibers to the AWG channels, and then to epoxy without losing alignment.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4973127 (1990-11-01), Cannon et al.
patent: 4983012 (1991-01-01), Saito et al.
patent: 5037179 (1991-08-01), Bortolin
patent: 5574811 (1996-11-01), Bricheno et al.
patent: 5611010 (1997-03-01), Shiino et al.
patent: 5613024 (1997-03-01), Shahid
patent: 5619605 (1997-04-01), Ueda et al.
patent: 5625730 (1997-04-01), Ishikawa et al.
patent: 5633968 (1997-05-01), Sheem
patent: 5689599 (1997-11-01), Shahid
patent: 5721798 (1998-02-01), Kanda
patent: 5818994 (1998-10-01), Hehmann
patent: 6160936 (2000-12-01), You et al.
patent: 6181855 (2001-01-01), Richter et al.
patent: 6240235 (2001-05-01), Uno et al.
patent: 6241399 (2001-06-01), Nobuhara
patent: 6243518 (2001-06-01), Lee et al.
patent: 6394663 (2002-05-01), Nakagawa et al.
patent: 0-667-543 (1995-08-01), None
patent: 60-158410 (1985-12-01), None
patent: 01-142508 (1989-06-01), None
patent: 02-156211 (1990-06-01), None
patent: 09-230168 (1998-09-01), None
patent: 10-206685 (1998-11-01), None

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Alignment of optical fibers to an etched array waveguide does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Alignment of optical fibers to an etched array waveguide, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Alignment of optical fibers to an etched array waveguide will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3047060