System and method for collimating and redirecting beams in a fiber optic system

A collimating element, comprising:

• a prism that includes a triangular wedge element having a first surface, a second surface and a base, the base of the triangle wedge element having curvature to enable it to act as a cylindrical mirror to redirect the light beam by total internal reflection;
• and
• an aspheric lens integrated on the second surface, the aspheric lens being toric with principle axes aligned with those of the cylindrically curved base of the triangle wedge element, the integrated aspheric lens being positioned so that a chief ray of the light beam passes directly through the axis of the aspheric lens, wherein the light beam from an optical source input is an elliptically shaped beam, the elliptically shaped beam being redirected at an angle relative to an axis of the optical source input by the cylindrically curved base, the redirected light beam being collimated by the aspheric lens, the collimated light beam being a circularly or substantially circularly shaped beam, wherein the aspheric lens serves to collimate the redirected light beam, the base of the triangle wedge element redirecting the light beam by total internal reflection.

An optical multiplexer of a zig-zag design, comprising:

• a fiber coupler that redirects and couples a light beam with different wavelength components into an optical fiber;
• at least two collimating optical subassemblies receiving light beams from different point sources, the at least two collimating optical subassemblies being aligned along a common axis;
• an optically transparent block that receives light beams with different wavelength components, the optically transparent block having a top side coated to act as a reflective mirror and a bottom side including thin film filters (TFFs), each with a different passband wavelength and each being positioned over each collimating optical subassembly, the top side being the side opposite to at least one of the fiber coupler and the collimating optical subassemblies, wherein light beams from the point sources travel through the collimating optical subassemblies, the TTFs, the optically transparent block and the fiber coupler into the optical fiber.

A mold assembly for fabricating an integrated optical assembly as a single injection-molded part, the integrated optical assembly including a connector housing, an optical de-multiplexer and an optical multiplexer, the mold assembly comprising:

• first and second mold halves arranged to mate with each other, forming a draw direction oriented parallel to axes of aspheric lenses of a focusing optical subassembly of the optical de-multiplexer and a collimating optical subassembly of the optical multiplexer, and
• a single slider used to form ferrules for a fiber collimator of the optical de-multiplexer and a fiber coupler of the optical multiplexer as well as to form the connector housing, wherein the first mold half is used to shape wedges of the collimating and focusing optical subassemblies and to shape aspheric lenses of the fiber collimator and the fiber coupler, and the second mold half is used to shape total internal reflection surfaces of the fiber collimator and the fiber coupler and to shape the aspheric lenses of the collimating and focusing subassemblies.

An integrated optical subassembly, comprising:

• a fiber coupler that redirects and couples a light beam with different wavelength components into an optical fiber;
• at least two collimating elements that receives elliptically divergent light beams from edge-emitting lasers, the at least two collimating elements being aligned along a common axis and spaced so that the elliptically divergent light beams become redirected and collimated into circular or nearly circular light beams;
• an optically transparent block that receives the circular or nearly circular light beams with different wavelength components, the optically transparent block having a top side coated to act as a reflective mirror and a bottom side including thin film filters (TFFs), each with a different passband wavelength and each being positioned over each collimating element, the top side being the side opposite to at least one of the fiber coupler and the collimating optical subassemblies, wherein the circular or nearly circular light beams travel through the TTFs, the optically transparent block and the fiber coupler into the optical fiber.