Coated low loss optical fiber with small diameter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10126495-B2
Application number	US-201715630336-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 22, 2017
Priority date	Jun 29, 2016
Publication date	Nov 13, 2018
Grant date	Nov 13, 2018

Abstract

A multi-purpose optical fiber with coating is provided. The optical fiber can function as a transmission fiber or as a coupling fiber for optical data links that features low coupling loss to silicon photonics lasers, VCSELs, single mode transmission fibers, multimode transmission fibers, and high speed receivers. The fiber includes a core, an optional inner cladding region, a depressed index cladding region, an outer cladding region, and a coating. The relative refractive index profile of the coupling fiber includes a small-radius core region with α profile and a depressed index cladding region that facilitates low bending loss and high bandwidth. The coating thickness and overall diameter of the fiber is small.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A multimode optical fiber comprising:
a core region, said core region having an outer radius r 1 in the range from 10 μm to 20 μm, and a relative refractive index profile Δ 1 (r) with maximum value Δ 1max defined by the relationship:

Δ
1

⁡

(
r
)

=

Δ

1
⁢

⁢
max

⁡

[

1
-

[

r

r
1

]

α

]

where r is a radial coordinate relative to a centerline of the multimode optical fiber and α has a value in the range from 1.8-3.0; and
a cladding, said cladding having an outer radius r 4 in the range from 35 μm to 60 μm and a relative refractive index Δ 4 in the range from −0.1% to 0.1%; and
a coating surrounding said cladding, said coating having an outer radius r 5 less than 100 μm and a thickness less than 55 μm, said coating comprising a primary layer surrounded by a secondary layer, said secondary layer having a Young's modulus greater than 1200 MPa;
wherein said core region and said cladding form a waveguide that supports a fundamental mode and at least one higher order mode at 1310 nm and said multimode optical fiber has an effective modal bandwidth at 1310 nm of at least 1.5 GHz-km and a numerical aperture greater than 0.22.

2. The multimode optical fiber of claim 1 , wherein said outer radius r 1 is in the range from 13 μm to 17 μm.

3. The multimode optical fiber of claim 1 , wherein said cladding includes a depressed index cladding region surrounding said core region and an outer cladding region surrounding said depressed index cladding region, said depressed index cladding region having an inner radius in the range from 10 μm to 20 μm, an outer radius r 3 in the range from 14 μm to 24 μm, and a relative refractive index Δ 3 in the range from −0.8% to −0.1%.

4. The multimode optical fiber of claim 3 , wherein said depressed index cladding region has an inner radius in the range from 13 μm to 18 μm.

5. The multimode optical fiber of claim 1 , wherein said effective modal bandwidth at 1310 nm is at least 4 GHz-km.

6. The multimode optical fiber of claim 1 , wherein said multimode optical fiber has a mode field diameter for the LP01 mode at 1310 nm between 8.8 μm and 9.6 μm.

7. The multimode optical fiber of claim 1 , wherein said cladding has an outer radius r 4 in the range from 35 μm to 45 μm.

8. The multimode optical fiber of claim 1 , wherein said coating has an outer radius r 5 less than 90 μm.

9. A multimode optical fiber comprising:
a core region, said core region having an outer radius r 1 in the range from 10 μm to 20 μm, and a relative refractive index profile Δ 1 (r) with maximum value Δ 1max defined by the relationship:

Δ
1

⁡

(
r
)

=

Δ

1
⁢

⁢
max

⁡

[

1
-

[

r

r
1

]

α

]

where r is a radial coordinate relative to a centerline of the multimode optical fiber and α has a value in the range from 1.8-3.0; and
a cladding, said cladding having an outer radius r 4 in the range from 35 μm to 60 μm and a relative refractive index Δ 4 in the range from −0.1% to 0.1%; and
a coating surrounding said cladding, said coating having an outer radius r 5 less than 100 μm and a thickness less than 55 μm, said coating comprising a primary layer surrounded by a secondary layer, said secondary layer having a Young's modulus greater than 1200 MPa;
wherein said core region and said cladding form a waveguide that supports a fundamental mode and at least one higher order mode at 1310 nm and said multimode optical fiber has an effective modal bandwidth at 850 nm of at least 1.5 GHz-km and a numerical aperture greater than 0.22.

10. A multimode optical fiber comprising:
a core region, said core region having an outer radius r 1 in the range from 18 μm to 22 μm, and a relative refractive index profile Δ 1 (r) with maximum value Δ 1max defined by the relationship:

Δ
1

⁡

(
r
)

=

Δ

1
⁢

⁢
max

⁡

[

1
-

[

r

r
1

]

α

]

where r is a radial coordinate relative to a centerline of the multimode optical fiber and α has a value in the range from 1.8-3.0; and
a cladding, said cladding having an outer radius r 4 in the range from 35 μm to 60 μm and a relative refractive index Δ 4 in the range from −0.1% to 0.1%; and
a coating surrounding said cladding, said coating having an outer radius r 5 less than 100 μm and a thickness less than 55 μm, said coating comprising a primary layer surrounded by a secondary layer, said

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Bickham Scott Robertson
• Chien Ching-Kee
• Tandon Ruchi

Classifications

• G02B6/0365

  arranged - - + · CPC title

• G02B6/03627

  arranged - + · CPC title

• G02B6/02395

  Glass optical fibre with a protective coating, e.g. two layer polymer coating deposited directly on a silica cladding surface during fibre manufacture (G02B6/02052, G02B6/02057, G02B6/024, G02B6/032, G02B6/105, G02B6/14 take precedence; coating on fibre gratings G02B6/02104; multilayer core or cladding G02B6/036; reinforcing splice joints G02B6/2558; optical cables, i.e. comprising protective structures external to the protective coating such as a jacket or plural coated optical fibres G02B6/44; coating of glass to obtain optical fibres C03C25/104) · CPC title

• G02B6/0288 Primary

  Multimode fibre, e.g. graded index core for compensating modal dispersion · CPC title

• G02B6/0281 Primary

  Graded index region forming part of the central core segment, e.g. alpha profile, triangular, trapezoidal core (G02B6/0288, G02B6/0286 take precedence) · CPC title