Optical waveguides – With splice – Alignment of fiber ends prior to splicing
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-26
2003-12-16
Epps, Georgia (Department: 2873)
Optical waveguides
With splice
Alignment of fiber ends prior to splicing
C385S095000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06663297
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
In 1995 Y. S. Chen and A. Benatar, SPE ANTEC Tech. Paper, 1235 and 1248 reported using electric lamps to heat one material and then press them together after removing the light. Robert Grimm improved this process by using filters to make the process more selective (Private Communication Edition Welding Institute (EWI) Materials Joining Technology, 1250 Arthur Adams Dr., Columbus, Ohio 432212, July, 1998).
There are many books and many patents describing photon sources such as laser and other photon emitter technology such as T. H. Maiman in Nature 187, 493 (1960) and the CRC Handbook of Lasers entitled Selected Data on Optical Technology Edited by Robert J. Pressley, published by the Chemical Rubber Co. Cleveland, Ohio, 44128. A classic paper is by J. E. Geusic, H. M. Marcos, L. G. Van Uitert (App. Phys. Lett. 4, 182,1964).
Through-Transmission infrared (TTIR) welding is a non-contact welding process that uses photons that are transmitted through one piece and absorbed by the other. This Through-Transmission Photon (TTP) welding process only requires access to one side of the fiber to be welded as the light will penetrate from the outer edge through the fiber to the farther edge. Mirrors can be used to recycle some of the photons. TTP may incorporate dopant that absorb photons in the any region such as the IR, visible or UV regions.
TTP has advantages for welding optical materials. Items that could be damage by a torch or general electrical heating are difficult to weld such as fiber optic cable because the cladding and core are disrupted.
Welding of plastics are described in patents such as those by R. Grimm U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,840,147 and 5,843,265, and in Goldstein and Tolley Patent Applications 60/116,575 filed Jan. 21, 1999 and Ser. No. 09/488,887 filed Jan. 21, 2000. The information from these earlier patents and patent applications are herein incorporated by reference.
There are a number of ways of producing UV sources, several of which are discussed in two U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,334,913 issued 1994 by Ury and 4,990,789 issued 1991 by Useaki. In addition, there are a number of selective emitters and methods for making them, which have been described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,500,054, 5,686,368 and 6,104,031 and application No. 60/089,176 Filed Jun. 12, 1998 herein incorporated by reference.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention also provides a system to join materials rapidly and economically. Custom masks and or waveguides are not required. In addition, this invention describes the holding means may come in a variety of sizes for welding a wide variety of materials and parts. In addition, this invention describes a novel continuous apparatus and method for welding a variety of parts. The method involves exposing the joint of the parts to a stationary light source in such a way that a uniform photon flux is directed to the weld area averaged over the welding time.
In one embodiment of the invention, an UV source is used for welding the optical fibers, the photons of a selected waveband are carried and directed to the target or to a fiber optic cable or waveguide. The target may include an object such as a solid state part that transmits the selected photon to the photon weld joint. The coating on the ends of the optical fiber absorbs the UV photons. The absorption causes the coating, which contains mostly silica and a selective absorber to melt in the area exposed for a period of time called the weld time. The faster the better for welding as it reduces cost. Faster welding requires high-energy photon beams. The uncoated portion of the optical fiber parts does not absorb enough of the energy to cause damage to the fiber.
Patent Application entitled, Photon Welding Optical Fiber with Ultra Violet (UV) and Visible Sources, incorporates selective emitting devices such as an UV xenon lamp, laser and microwave lamp. There is a selective absorber coupled into or onto the ends of the fiber to be joined. The photons are directed either through the fiber or from a perpendicular position around the circumference of the fiber. A number of optical devices may be used to direct the photons to the target areas while they are held in position by an optical gripper or other means.
The joint to be welded is heated by the photons that are absorbed by the selective absorber such as in the visible, UV or any area of the spectrum that is not in the optical transmission region. The fiber optical cables may be attached to a photon emitter that emits only photons that are absorbed. The absorbers transfer energy to its surrounding causing micro-melting and fusing at the joint, which held under a compressive load. The photons generated sources such as a Xenon flash lamp are directed to the fiber optic cable or waveguide, which in tern guide the intense photon beam to its target.
The joint may be coated or ion Implanted on the fiber ends. The material may consist of any material that absorbs only in regions outside that design for communications or other purpose. These materials may consist of materials that absorb photons in specific regions such as metal oxides. In addition, the fiber ends maybe coated with any selective absorber such as certain transition element and mixture thereof.
Another embodiment of this invention deals with fibers that are doped with a welding absorber. Another method to produce fiber joining of infrared transmissive fibers will use absorbers that are in a different range than the intended transmission. One big advantage of this optical welding over diffusion welding is that the fiber can be of different composition and melting points.
In addition a second coating may be added to enhance the capture of selected photons within the end of the waveguide or an antireflective coating may be employed. A number of coating process maybe employed including a sol-gel process. As long as the optical absorber has a significantly different absorption wave length than that required by the optical cable the device produced would function as designed. In fact, a properly welded joint will have near zero loss. The current connectors have loss of 0.2 or more dB in most useful wavelengths.
Targets (such as fiber ends) may be placed in a gripping device that simply holds each fiber and presses them together. At least one end may be coated with the selected absorber that absorbs the selected wavelengths of the photon welder.
Targets (such as fiber ends) may be placed in a gripping device that simply holds each fiber and press them together. At least one end may be coated with the selected absorber that absorbs the selected wavelengths of the photon welder.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a means to efficiently produce and focus photons and deliver them to a coated optical fiber joint target. The thermal energy generated from the absorption of at least one band of selected photons, which are the result of a special material(s) incorporated within the fiber. The absorber is at least on the ends of the sections to be joined. These sections may have a different composition or melt temperature.
If the source of photons is match with the selective absorber in the coating, then the process may be more efficient. An example of such a system is an UV or blue laser. Other absorbers are in the visible and a blue-green or red laser matched with the appropriate absorber. It is possible to add the absorber to the end of the glass fiber in the form of a silicon oxide doped material. Many other chemical compounds contain an ion that selectively absorbs are feasible such as titanium oxide and cobalt oxide. The key is to have a source that at least has sufficient energy in the appropriate band of the absorber.
The preferred photon source should be capable of producing enough photons in the absorber band to create melting on the very end of the, glass in a short period of time less than 1 second. The photon source should direct the selected photons to the targets such as the optical fiber joint.
Another novel photon source for optical fiber welding is a photon-emitting device, which con
Epps Georgia
Hasan M.
Quantum Group Inc.
LandOfFree
Photon welding optical fiber with ultra violet (UV) and... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Photon welding optical fiber with ultra violet (UV) and..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Photon welding optical fiber with ultra violet (UV) and... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3146905