Patent · US Expired

Optical communication system comprising a fiber amplifier

US5074633A · kind A · utility

41Cited by
10References
4Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 3, 1990
Grant dateDec 24, 1991
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 3, 2010

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01S3/06745
  • WIPO fieldOptics
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

Disclosed is an optical communication system comprising at least two optical fibers of dissimilar core sizes, joined by a fusion splice. In one embodiment, the larger-core fiber is a communication fiber, and the smaller-core fiber is an erbium-doped amplifier fiber. A taper region is included adjacent the splice. The diameter of the smaller-core fiber increases within the taper region as the splice is approached along the smaller-core fiber. The taper region is substantially free of constrictions. As a consequence of the taper region, the optical losses associated with the splice are relatively low, even when there is relatively high mismatch between the mode field diameters (at a signal wavelength) in the respective fibers.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.