Index matched grating inscription
AssigneeOFS Fitel, LLC
InventorsKenneth S. Feder, Paul S. Westbrook
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The disclosed embodiments provide systems and methods for mitigating lensing and scattering as an optical fiber is being inscribed with a grating. The disclosed systems and methods mitigate the lensing phenomenon by surrounding an optical fiber with a liquid index-matching material that is held in a vessel. The disclosed systems also include a replenishment mechanism that replenishes the liquid index-matching material as the optical fiber is pulled through the vessel.
Claims21
A system for writing a grating onto an optical fiber, the system comprising:
- a vessel to hold a liquid index-matching material, the liquid index-matching material adhering to the optical fiber, the vessel comprising:
- a passage through which the optical fiber is pulled, the passage to surround the optical fiber with the liquid index-matching material, the optical fiber being coated by the liquid index-matching material as it is pulled through the passage;
- an entry through which the optical fiber enters the passage;
- and
- an exit through which the optical fiber coated with the liquid index-matching material exits the passage;
- a reel-to-reel system operatively coupled to the vessel, the reel-to-reel system to pull the optical fiber through the passage;
- a replenishment system operatively coupled to the vessel, the replenishment system to replenish the vessel with liquid index-matching material;
- and
- an exit cleaning system located at the exit, the exit cleaning system to remove the coated liquid index-matching material from the optical fiber as the optical fiber exits the passage.
The system of claim 3, further comprising an entry cleaning system located at the entry, the entry cleaning system to clean the optical fiber before the optical fiber enters the passage.
A system, comprising:
- a vessel to hold a liquid index-matching material, the vessel comprising a passage for an optical fiber such that the optical fiber is surrounded by the liquid index-matching material;
- an index-modulation mechanism to create an index modulation within the optical fiber;
- and
- an input to introduce the liquid index-matching material into the vessel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.