Non-contact insertion loss measurement systems for optical fiber cable assemblies

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11022761-B2
Application number	US-201916673766-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 4, 2019
Priority date	May 12, 2017
Publication date	Jun 1, 2021
Grant date	Jun 1, 2021

Abstract

A non-contact system for measuring an insertion loss of a cable assembly with cable fibers includes a light source system that emits light and a launch connector supporting launch fibers. A detector system includes receive fibers supported by a receive connector. The detector system has detectors optically coupled to the receive fibers, with one detector directly optically coupled to the light source system for calibration. A first movable stage supports the launch connector and a second movable stage supports the receive connector. A launch optical system images output end faces of the launch fibers onto input end faces of the cable fibers of the cable assembly. A receive optical system images output end faces of the cable fibers onto input end faces of the receive fibers. The light exiting the receive fibers is detected and processed to determine the insertion loss of the cable assembly.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-contact system for measuring an insertion loss of a cable assembly having at least one optical fiber with input and output end faces respectively supported by input and output connectors, the non-contact system comprising:
a light source system that includes at least one light source that emits light, at least one launch fiber optically coupled to the at least one light source, and a launch connector supporting the at least one launch fiber, wherein each of the at least one launch fiber includes an output end face at the launch connector;
a detector system that includes at least one receive fiber having an input end face and an output end face, a receive connector supporting the input end face of the at least one receive fiber, and a detector array comprising a plurality of detectors, wherein at least one of the detectors is optically coupled to the output end face of the at least one receive fiber and at least another one of the detectors is optically coupled to the light source system via an optical path that does not include the receive connector;
a first movable stage that supports the launch connector;
a second movable stage that supports the receive connector;
a launch optical head including an input connector port configured to receive and engage the input connector, wherein the launch optical head comprises a 1:1 telecentric imaging optical system for imaging the output end face of the at least one launch fiber onto the input end face of the at least one optical fiber of the cable assembly; and
a receive optical head including an output connector port configured to receive and engage the output connector, wherein the launch optical head comprises a 1:1 telecentric imaging optical system for imaging the output end face of the at least one optical fiber of the cable assembly onto the input end face of the at least one receive fiber.

2. The non-contact system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one light source comprises a first laser that emits the laser light at first wavelength and a second laser that emits the laser light at a second wavelength that is less than the first wavelength.

3. The non-contact system according to claim 2 , where the first wavelength is about 1550 nm and the second wavelength is about 1310 nm.

4. The non-contact system according to claim 2 , wherein the first and second lasers are optically coupled to the at least one launch fiber using first and second optical fiber sections.

5. The non-contact system according to claim 1 , wherein the cable assembly comprises a number J of optical fibers, the at least one launch fiber comprises a number P of launch fibers, and the at least one receive fiber comprises a number P receive fibers, wherein P=J, and wherein the first and second movable stages are respectively configured to move the launch and receive connectors relative to the launch and receive optical heads respectively to measure the insertion loss for each of the J optical fibers.

6. The non-contact system according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second movable stages are configured to move in increments of 1 micron or less.

7. The non-contact system according to claim 1 , wherein the imaging optical system of the launch optical head and the imaging optical system of the receive optical head each comprises first and second confronting microscope objectives.

8. A non-contact system for measuring an insertion loss of a test cable assembly having multiple test optical fibers respectively supported by input and output connectors, the multiple test optical fibers each having input and output end faces at the respective input and output connectors, the non-contact system comprising:
a light source system comprising a launch connector that supports multiple launch fibers each having an output end face, wherein the light source system is configured to generate light at a select wavelength and input the light into the multiple launch fibers;
a detector system comprising a receive connector that supports multiple receive fibers each having input and output end faces, and further comprising a plurality of detectors respectively optically coupled to the output end faces of the receive optical fibers, and a reference detector optically coupled directly to the light source system;
first and second movable stages for respectively supporting and moving the launch and receive connectors;
a launch optical head including an input connector port configured to receive and engage the input connector, wherein the launch optical head comprises a 1:1 telecentric imaging optical system for respectively imaging the output end faces of the multiple launch fibers onto the respective input end faces of the multiple test optical fibers; and
a receive optical head including an output connector port configured to receive and engage the output connector, wherein the launch optical head comprises a 1:1 telecentric imaging optical system for respectively imaging the output end faces of the multiple test optical fibers onto the input end faces of the receive optical fibers.

9. The non-contact system according to claim 8 , wherein the light source system comprises one or more lasers, with at least one of the lasers generating the light at a wavelength in the range from about 1310 nm to about 1550 nm.

10. The non-contact system according to claim 8 , wherein the first and second movable stages can move laterally in increments of down to 1 micron or less with an accuracy of 0.1 micron or less.

11. The non-contact system according to claim 8 , wherein the imaging optical system of the launch optical head and the imaging optical system of the receive optical head each comprises first and second confronting microscope objectives.

12. A non-contact system for measuring insertion loss, comprising:
a cable assembly having multiple cable fibers each having input and output end faces respectively supported by input and output connectors;
a light source system that emits light and comprises a launch connector that supports multiple launch fibers, wherein each of the multiple launch fibers includes an output end face at the launch connector;
a detector system comprising a receive connector that supports multiple receive fibers each having an input end face and an output end face, and further comprising a plurality of detectors respectively optically coupled to the output end faces of the receive fibers, with one of the detectors optically coupled to the light source system via an optical path that does not include the receive connector;
a first movable stage that supports the launch connector;
a second movable stage that supports the receive connector;
a launch optical head including an input connector port configured to receive and engage the input connector, wherein the launch optical head comprises a 1:1 telecentric imaging optical system configured to respectively image the output end faces of the launch fibers onto the input end faces of the multiple cable fibers when the input connector is arranged adjacent the launch optical head; and
a receive optical head including an output connector port configured to receive and engage the output connector, wherein the launch optical head comprises a 1:1 telecentric imaging optical system configured to respectively image the output end faces of the multiple cable fibers onto the input end faces of the receive fibers when the output connector is arranged adjacent the receive optical head.

13. The non-contact system according to claim 12 , wherein the light source system comprises a first laser that emits light at first wavelength and a second laser that emits light at a second wavel

Assignees

• Corning Res & Dev Corp

Inventors

• Miller William James
• Modavis Robert Adam

Classifications

• G02B6/385 Primary

  Accessories for testing or observation of connectors (means for centering or aligning the light guide within the ferrule with auxiliary facilities for movably aligning or adjusting the fibre within its ferrule, measuring position, eccentricity G02B6/3843; mechanical features associated with the optical testing of optical fibres G01M11/088) · CPC title

• G01M11/33 Primary

  with a light emitter being disposed at one fibre or waveguide end-face, and a light receiver at the other end-face · CPC title

• G01M11/335

  using two or more input wavelengths · CPC title

• G01M11/31

  with a light emitter and a light receiver being disposed at the same side of a fibre or waveguide end-face, e.g. reflectometers · CPC title