Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100303429 | Microstructured Optical Fiber Draw Method with In-Situ Vacuum Assisted Preform Consolidation - A method and apparatus for making a substantially void-free microstructured optical fiber using a one-step process is provided. A preform for the optical fiber is prepared, comprising an outer jacket made of solid glass, a cladding having a plurality of microtubes and/or microcanes arranged in a desired pattern within the jacket, and a core which may be solid or hollow, with the cladding and the core extending above the top of the outer jacket. The thus-prepared preform is placed into a fiber draw tower. As the fiber is drawn, negative gas pressure is applied to draw the canes together and consolidate the interfacial voids between the canes while positive gas pressure is applied to the preform to keep the holes of the microcanes open during the fiber drawing. The apparatus includes a jig having support tubes that are connected to a vacuum pump for application of the negative gas pressure and a vent tube connected to a gas supply for application of the positive gas pressure. The interfaces between the support tube and the outer jacket and between the vent tube and the cladding are sealed to ensure that the appropriate application of negative or positive pressure during the draw step is obtained. The preforms according to the present invention can include one or more components fabricated from specialty non-silica glass. | 12-02-2010 |
20110002585 | FIBER-BASED MID-IR SIGNAL COMBINER AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME - The present invention is generally directed to a device comprising multiple specialty glass optical fibers that combines several different mid-infrared optical signals from multiple optical fibers into one signal in a single optical fiber. In addition, the present invention provides for a method of making the device. | 01-06-2011 |
20110033156 | Microstructured Fiber End - An optical fiber having microstructured terminal end suitable for reducing Fresnel losses. In an exemplary embodiment, the microstructured surface includes a plurality of protrusions, recesses or combinations thereof that effectively and incrementally change the refractive index of the terminal end of the optical fiber such that the refractive index is gradually drawn closer to the refractive index value of the surrounding environmental medium. | 02-10-2011 |
20110038587 | MULTI-CLAD OPTICAL FIBER - A chalcogenide multi-clad optical fiber having a core, a first cladding and one or more subsequent claddings including a chalcogenide glass. The optical fiber may be capable of transmitting visible and inferred light and may be used for a wide variety of semiconductor applications. | 02-17-2011 |
20120141079 | PHOTONIC BAND GAP FIBERS USING A JACKET WITH A DEPRESSED SOFTENING TEMPERATURE - The present invention is generally directed to a photonic bad gap fiber and/or fiber preform with a central structured region comprising a first non-silica based glass and a jacket comprising a second non-silica based glass surrounding the central structured region, where the Littleton softening temperature of the second glass is at least one but no more than ten degrees Celsius lower than the Littleton softening temperature of the first glass, or where the base ten logarithm of the glass viscosity in poise of the second glass is at least 0.01 but no more than 2 lower than the base ten logarithm of the glass viscosity in poise of the first glass at a fiber draw temperature. Also disclosed is a method of making a photonic bad gap fiber and/or fiber preform. | 06-07-2012 |
20120141080 | HEXAGONAL TUBE STACKING METHOD FOR THE FABRICATION OF HOLLOW CORE PHOTONIC BAND GAP FIBERS AND PREFORMS - The present invention is generally directed to a method of making a hollow-core photonic band gap preform from a specialty glass by pressing a specialty glass through a die to form a tube wherein the outer transverse shape of the tube is a hexagon, triangle, quadrilateral, or other polygon; stretching the tube to form a micro-tube with approximately the same outer transverse shape as the tube; stacking a plurality of micro-tubes into a bundle minimizing voids between adjacent micro-tubes and forming a central longitudinal void wherein the plurality of micro-tubes within the bundle comprise an inner structured region of the preform and the central void of the bundle comprises a hollow core in the preform; and inserting the bundle into a jacket tube. Also disclosed are the hollow-core photonic band gap preform and fiber formed by this method. | 06-07-2012 |
20120321263 | DIRECT EXTRUSION METHOD FOR THE FABRICATION OF PHOTONIC BAND GAP (PBG) FIBERS AND FIBER PREFORMS - A method and apparatus for making a substantially void-free preform for a microstructured optical fiber using a one-step process is provided. A preform is prepared from specialty glasses using a direct extrusion method. A die for use with the direct extrusion method is also provided, and a method for drawing the preform into a HC-PBG fiber for use in transmitting infra-red wavelength light is also provided. The preform comprises an outer jacket made of solid glass, a cladding having a plurality of air holes arranged in a desired pattern within the jacket, and a core which is hollow. | 12-20-2012 |
20150340831 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF ACHIEVING HIGH BRIGHTNESS INFRARED FIBER PARAMETRIC AMPLIFIERS AND LIGHT SOURCES - Fiber optic amplification in a spectrum of infrared electromagnetic radiation is achieved by creating a chalcogenide photonic crystal fiber (PCF) structure having a radially varying pitch. A chalcogenide PCF system can be tuned during fabrication of the chalcogenide PCF structure, by controlling, the size of the core, the size of the cladding, and the hole size to pitch ratio of the chalcogenide PCF structure and tuned during exercising of the chalcogenide PCF system with pump laser and signal waves, by changing the wavelength of either the pump laser wave or the signal wave, maximization of nonlinear conversion of the chalcogenide PCF, efficient parametric conversion with low peak power pulses of continuous wave laser sources, and minimization of power penalties and minimization of the need for amplification and regeneration of pulse transmissions over the length of the fiber, based on a dispersion factor. | 11-26-2015 |