Fiber optic connector microlens with focal plane aligning fiber trap
US8057106B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 7, 2010 |
| Grant date | Nov 15, 2011 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 7, 2030 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02B6/4204
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A fiber optical connector microlens is provided with a focal plane aligning fiber trap. The microlens is made from a convex first lens surface, a second lens surface (planar or convex), and a fiber trap integrally formed with the second lens surface for aligning a face of an optical fiber core in a microlens focal plane. In one aspect, the fiber trap includes a barrel attached to the second lens surface and a clamping mechanism to prevent an inserted fiber core, with a diameter about equal to a barrel interior surface diameter, from being withdrawn from the barrel. The fiber trap clamping mechanism can be an irregular barrel interior surface to frictionally engage a fiber core exterior surface, a constricted region of the barrel interior surface, having a diameter smaller than an uncompressed fiber core diameter, or a corkscrew region of the barrel interior surface.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.