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US 10,094,974 B2Granted
Multicore optical fiber with a randomized core structure
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorsMinghan Chen, Ming-Jun Li, Jeffery Scott Stone
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Multicore optical fibers are disclosed that have randomly arranged cores within a cladding matrix. In some cases, the cores are defined by air lines formed in a glass matrix. The cores can have an edge-to-edge spacing designed so that the multicore optical fiber operates in either a weak-coupling regime or a strong-coupling regime. Imaging systems and optical fiber communication systems that utilize the multicore fibers disclosed here are also presented.
Claims28
A multicore optical fiber comprising:
- a glass matrix having a front end face, a back end face, a length, refractive index n20 and a central axis;
- a plurality of air lines randomly arranged within the glass matrix and that run generally parallel to the central axis, with 25% or greater of the airlines running the full length between the front and back endfaces, the air lines having a refractive index n120, wherein n120<n20, and wherein the airlines define in the glass matrix a plurality of randomly arranged first cores that in combination with the plurality of airlines defines a plurality of first waveguides;
- and wherein any two first cores have an edge-to-edge spacing S that is greater than a minimum distance SMIN defined by a maximum amount of allowable cross-talk between adjacent first cores, wherein the maximum amount of allowable cross-talk ≤10%.
A multicore optical fiber comprising:
- a glass matrix having a front endface, a back endface, a length, a refractive index n20 and a central axis;
- a plurality of cores randomly arranged within the glass matrix and that run generally parallel to the central axis between the front and back endfaces and having respective refractive indices n50, wherein n50>n20, and wherein the glass matrix serves as a common cladding for the plurality of cores so that each core and the common cladding define a waveguide;
- and wherein any two cores have an edge-to-edge spacing that is smaller than a maximum distance defined by a minimum amount of cross-talk between adjacent cores of 50%.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.