Fiber array spacers, optical assemblies incorporating fiber array spacers, and methods of fabricating the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11415754-B2
Application number	US-202017022443-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 16, 2020
Priority date	Sep 30, 2019
Publication date	Aug 16, 2022
Grant date	Aug 16, 2022

Abstract

Fiber array spacers, optical fiber assemblies, optical assemblies, and methods for fabricating optical assemblies are disclosed. In one embodiment, an optical fiber assembly includes a fiber array spacer and a fiber ribbon having an array of optical fibers. The fiber array spacer has an array of spacer fibers, wherein individual spacer fibers of the array of spacer fibers are bonded to one another, and a diameter of the individual spacer fibers determines a height of the fiber array spacer. Each optical fiber of the array of optical fibers has an glass portion. The glass portion of each optical fiber is bonded to the fiber array spacer such that a longitudinal axis of the individual spacer fibers is transverse to a longitudinal axis of individual optical fibers of the fiber ribbon.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An optical fiber assembly comprising:
a fiber array spacer comprising:
an array of spacer fibers, wherein individual spacer fibers of the array of spacer fibers are bonded to one another and each individual spacer fiber of the array of spacer fibers comprises a first surface defining a first plane and a second surface defining a second plane parallel to the first plane; and
a fiber ribbon comprising an array of optical fibers, wherein:
each optical fiber of the array of optical fibers comprises a glass portion; and
the glass portion of each optical fiber of the array of optical fibers is bonded to the first surface of the fiber array spacer such that a longitudinal axis of the individual spacer fibers is transverse to a longitudinal axis of individual optical fibers of the array of optical fibers.

2. The optical fiber assembly of claim 1 , further comprising an additional fiber array spacer, the additional fiber array spacer comprising:
an additional array of spacer fibers, wherein:
individual spacer fibers of the additional array of spacer fibers are bonded to one another; and
the additional array of spacer fibers is bonded to the array of optical fibers such that the longitudinal axis of the individual spacer fibers of the additional array of spacer fibers is transverse to the longitudinal axis of individual optical fibers of the array of optical fibers, and the array of optical fibers is disposed between the fiber array spacer and the additional fiber array spacer.

3. The optical fiber assembly of claim 2 , further comprising an additional fiber ribbon comprising an additional array of optical fibers, wherein:
each optical fiber of the additional array of optical fibers comprises a glass portion; and
the glass portion of each optical fiber of the additional array of optical fibers is bonded to the additional fiber array spacer such that a longitudinal axis of the individual spacer fibers of the additional fiber array spacer is transverse to a longitudinal axis of individual optical fibers of the additional array of optical fibers.

4. The optical fiber assembly of claim 1 , further comprising an additional fiber ribbon comprising an additional array of optical fibers, wherein:
the glass portion of each optical fiber of the array of optical fibers is bonded to a first side of the fiber array spacer; and
a glass portion of each optical fiber of the additional array of optical fibers is bonded to a second side of the fiber array spacer.

5. The optical fiber assembly of claim 1 , further comprising an additional fiber array spacer comprising:
an additional array of spacer fibers, wherein:
individual spacer fibers of the additional array of spacer fibers are bonded to one another; and
the additional array of spacer fibers is bonded to the fiber array spacer such that the longitudinal axis of the individual spacer fibers of the additional array of spacer fibers is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the individual spacer fibers of the array of spacer fibers.

6. The optical fiber assembly of claim 1 , wherein the glass portion of each optical fiber of the array of optical fibers is bonded to the fiber array spacer by an adhesive.

7. The optical fiber assembly of claim 1 , wherein the glass portion of each optical fiber of the array of optical fibers is bonded to the fiber array spacer by laser bonding.

8. The optical fiber assembly of claim 1 , wherein:
the array of optical fibers comprises an interdigitated array of optical fibers comprising signal optical fibers and lateral spacer optical fibers; and
the lateral spacer optical fibers are optical fiber stubs.

9. The optical fiber assembly of claim 8 , wherein the signal optical fibers and the lateral spacer optical fibers of the interdigitated array of optical fibers are bonded to one another.

10. The optical fiber assembly of claim 1 , wherein the glass portion of each optical fiber of the array of optical fibers is bonded to the fiber array spacer such that the longitudinal axis of individual spacer fibers of the array of spacer fibers is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of individual optical fibers of the array of optical fibers.

11. The optical fiber assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a connector body, wherein the fiber array spacer is disposed within the connector body.

12. The optical fiber assembly of claim 1 , wherein:
an adhesive disposed between adjacent spacer fibers does not extend beyond the first plane and the second plane.

13. The optical fiber assembly of claim 1 , further comprising an intermediary spacer sheet disposed between two individual spacer fibers of the array of spacer fibers, wherein a height of the intermediary spacer sheet is less than a diameter of the individual spacer fibers of the array of spacer fibers such that the diameter of the individual spacer fibers define a height of the fiber array spacer.

14. The optical fiber assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a support plate, wherein the array of spacer fibers is bonded to a surface of the support plate.

15. An optical assembly comprising:
a fiber array spacer comprising:
an array of spacer fibers, wherein individual spacer fibers of the array of spacer fibers are bonded to one another and each individual spacer fiber of the array of spacer fibers comprises a first surface defining a first plane and a second surface defining a second plane parallel to the first plane;

a photonic integrated circuit bonded to the first surface of the fiber array spacer; and
an intermediary spacer sheet disposed between two individual spacer fibers of the array of spacer fibers, wherein a height of the intermediary spacer sheet is less than a diameter of the individual spacer fibers of the array of spacer fibers such that the diameter of the individual spacer fibers define a height of the fiber array spacer.

16. The optical assembly of claim 15 , wherein the photonic integrated circuit comprises a plurality of optical waveguides.

17. The optical assembly of claim 15 , wherein the photonic integrated circuit is bonded to the fiber array spacer by an adhesive.

18. The optical assembly of claim 15 , wherein the photonic integrated circuit is bonded to the fiber array spacer by laser bonding.

19. The optical assembly of claim 15 , further comprising an additional fiber array spacer comprising:
an additional array of spacer fibers, wherein:
individual spacer fibers of the additional array of spacer fibers are bonded to one another; and
the additional array of spacer fibers is bonded to the fiber array spacer such that the longitudinal axis of the individual spacer fibers of the additional array of spacer fibers is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the individual spacer fibers of the array of spacer fibers.

20. The optical assembly of claim 15 , wherein:
an adhesive disposed between adjacent spacer fibers does not extend beyond the first plane and the second plane.

21. The optical assembly of claim 15 , further comprising a support plate, wherein the array of spacer fibers is bonded to a surface of the support plate.

22. A fiber array spacer comprising:
an array of spacer fibers, wherein the array of spacer fibers comprises a first surface defining a first plane and a second surface defining a second plane; and
an adhesive disposed between adjacent spacer fibers that bonds individual spacer fibers to one another, wherein the adhesive does not extend beyond the first plane and the s

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Butler Douglas Llewellyn
• Sutherland James Scott

Classifications

• G02B6/3676 Primary

  Stacked arrangement · CPC title

• G02B6/3628 Primary

  for mounting fibres to supporting carriers (G02B6/3608, G02B6/3616 take precedence) · CPC title

• G02B6/3648

  Supporting carriers of a microbench type, i.e. with micromachined additional mechanical structures (microstructured devices per se B81B) · CPC title

• G02B6/3861

  Adhesive bonding (adhesives in general C09J) · CPC title

• G02B6/3885 Primary

  Multicore or multichannel optical connectors, i.e. one single ferrule containing more than one fibre, e.g. ribbon type (optical ribbon cable G02B6/4403, G02B6/448) · CPC title