Skew managed multi-core optical fiber interconnects
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorsMing-Jun Li, Shenping Li
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The embodiments described herein relate to multi-core optical fiber interconnects which include at least two multi-core optical fibers. The multi-core optical fibers are connected such that the core elements of the first multi-core optical fiber are optically coupled to the core elements of the second multi-core optical fiber thereby forming an array of interconnect core elements extending through the optical fiber interconnect. The multi-core optical fibers are constructed such that cross-talk between adjacent core elements in each multi-core optical fiber are minimized. The multi-core optical fibers are also constructed such that time-delays between the interconnect core elements in the array of interconnect core elements are also minimized.
Claims20
A multi-core optical fiber interconnect comprising:
- a transmitting multi-core optical fiber comprising:
- a length LT;
- a first transmitting core element CT_1 positioned in a first common outer cladding, the first transmitting core element CT_1 having a group refractive index nT_1g and an effective refractive index neffT_1;
- a second transmitting core element CT_2 positioned in the first common outer cladding adjacent to the first transmitting core element CT_1, the second transmitting core element CT_2 having a group refractive index nT_2g and an effective refractive index neffT_2, wherein neffT_1 and neffT_2 are different;
- a receiving multi-core optical fiber comprising:
- a length LR;
- a first receiving core element CR_1 positioned in a second common outer cladding, the first receiving core element CR_1 having a group refractive index nR_1g and an effective refractive index neffR_1;
- a second receiving core element CR_2 positioned in the second common outer cladding adjacent to the first receiving core element CR_2, the second receiving core element CR_2 having a group refractive index nR_2g and an effective refractive index neffR_2, wherein neffR_1 and neffR_2 are different, wherein:
- the first transmitting core element CT_1 is optically coupled to the first receiving core element CR_1 and the second transmitting core element CT_2 is optically coupled to the second receiving core element CR_2;
- and
- (nT_1gLT+nR_1gLR)=(nT_2gLT+nR_2gLR).
A multi-core optical fiber interconnect comprising:
- a first multi-core optical fiber comprising:
- a length LT;
- P core elements CT_j positioned in a first common outer cladding, where j is a positive integer from 1 to P, P is greater than 1, and each core element CT_j of the first multi-core optical fiber has a group refractive index nT_jg and an effective refractive index neffT_j which is different than an effective refractive index of adjacent core elements in the first multi-core optical fiber;
- a second multi-core optical fiber comprising:
- a length LR;
- and
- P receiving core elements CR_j positioned in a second common outer cladding, where j is a positive integer from 1 to P, and each core element CR_j of the first multi-core optical fiber has a group refractive index nR_jg and an effective refractive index neffR_j which is different than an effective refractive index of adjacent core elements in the second multi-core optical fiber, wherein:
- the first multi-core optical fiber and the second multi-core optical fiber are positioned such that each core element CT_j is optically coupled to a corresponding core element CR_j to form an array of interconnect core elements;
- and
- a sum (nT_jgLT+nR_jgLR) of each interconnect core element is the same for each interconnect core element in the array of interconnect core elements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.