Fabrication technique for low-loss fused taper directional couplers and pressure sensor produced thereby
US4895423A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 3, 1989 |
| Grant date | Jan 23, 1990 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 3, 2009 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01L11/025
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A method of forming a single mode biconical fiber optic coupler comprising holding 2 or more optical fibers parallel to and in contact with each other at spaced apart locations, exerting equal tension in opposite directions to the fibers at said spaced apart locations to stretch the fibers, fusing the fibers over a waist region, and scanning the tip of a flame from a microtorch back and forth along the fibers at a speed which is at least five times the speed of stretching of the fibers. This results in an overcoupled low loss coupler, a pressure or a temperature sensor, comprised of at least a pair of monomode optical fibers fused and parallel at a stretched waist portion, each having biconical tapers at opposite ends of the waist portion, the coupler having exhibited at least about 500 power transfer cycles during stretching formation of the waist portion.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.