Couplings and terminals for optical waveguides
US4183615A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 18, 1977 |
| Grant date | Jan 15, 1980 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 18, 1997 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02B6/3888
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An optical waveguide coupling comprises a connector having a longitudinal bore and a pair of optical waveguides, for example, optical fibres, whose ends are disposed in opposite ends of the longitudinal bore with the waveguide ends optically coupled to one another. The connector comprises a generally tubular body and a multiplicity of flexible elongate members mounted on the tubular body and extending longitudinally therethrough to define the longitudinal bore, the elongate members being spaced apart around the tubular body and being individually displaceable towards the tubular body. The flexible elongate members are displaced towards the tubular body by the ends of the optical waveguides and resiliently engage the ends of the optical waveguides to maintain them in alignment with one another. The optical waveguide coupling may form part of an optical waveguide terminal comprising a housing in which is mounted a connector as aforesaid and a lens means for transmitting light from an end of one of the waveguides. In these circumstances, an end of the waveguides remote from the other of the waveguides is disposed at a focal point of the lens means.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.