| US 7,548,682 B2 | ||
| Optical fiber array alignment unit | ||
| Matthew Last, San Diego, Calif. (US); and Yoshinao Taketomi, San Diego, Calif. (US) | ||
| Assigned to Trex Enterprises Corp., San Diego, Calif. (US) | ||
| Filed on Mar. 26, 2007, as Appl. No. 11/728,344. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2008/0240715 A1, Oct. 02, 2008 | ||
| Int. Cl. G02B 6/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 385—137 [385/18; 385/33] | 14 Claims |
| 1. A fiber-microlens positioning array comprising;
A) a plurality of optical fibers at least partially contained in a smaller plurality of fiber optic ribbons,
B) a mounting plate adapted to permit the passage through the mounting plate of said optical fibers extending from said fiber
optic ribbons,
C) a positioning plate comprised of a single silicon plate mounted on said mounting plate comprising a two dimensional array
of lithographically-defined V-grooves for alignment of said plurality of optical fibers extending from said fiber optic ribbons
to provide an array of optical fiber beam exit and/or entrance apertures, wherein each of said V-grooves are positioned in
said single plate both horizontally and vertically with sub-micron accuracy, and wherein said plurality of optical fibers
extending from said plurality of fiber optic ribbons are fixedly positioned in the V-grooves and
D) a microlens array comprised of a plurality of microlenses positioned to align a microlens with each optical fiber beam
exit and/or entrance aperture in said array of optical fiber beam exit and/or entrance apertures.
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