Fabrication of microlensed fiber using doped silicon dioxide
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorLjerka Ukrainczyk
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Abstract
A method of making a microlensed fiber by splicing a doped silica rod to an optical fiber and shaping the end of the doped silica rod into a plano-convex refracting lens. The doped silica rod has a lower melting point and annealing point than undoped silica, and therefor less power is required to manufacture the microlensed fiber. This decreases wear to the heating elements of the manufacturing equipment and therefor increases the number of microlensed fibers that can be manufactured between cycles. A further aspect of the present invention is a microlensed fiber made by the above process.
Claims32
A process for manufacturing a microlensed fiber comprising the steps of
- a) splicing a doped silica rod to an optical fiber by contacting an end of the optical fiber with an end of the doped silica rod and heating the area of contact to a temperature effective for joining the rod and the fiber,
- b) heating a region of the doped silica rod while simultaneously applying tension to the rod such that silica rod is cut in the heated region, and
- c) heating a region of the doped silica rod that remains spliced to the optical fiber so that the doped silica rod melts into a plano-convex lens.
A microlensed fiber comprising a doped silica rod spliced to an optical fiber, wherein the terminal end of the doped silica rod is shaped into a plano-convex refracting lens.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.