Claims
- 1. A fiber array, comprising:
a substrate made of a soft drillable material; and a plurality of holes drilled through the substrate for holding a plurality of glass fibers.
- 2. The fiber array of claim 1, wherein the soft drillable material exhibits a low coefficient of thermal expansion.
- 3. The fiber array of claim 2, wherein the soft drillable material comprises one selected from the group consisting of machinable graphite and machinable ceramic.
- 4. The fiber array of claim 2, wherein the soft drillable material comprises one selected from the group consisting of pyrolytic graphite, graphite, pyrolytic boron nitride, and boron nitride.
- 5. The fiber array of claim 1, wherein the soft drillable material exhibits a coefficient of thermal expansion less than about 1.0×10−6/° C.
- 6. The fiber array of claim 1, wherein the soft drillable material exhibits a coefficient of thermal expansion ranging from about 0.5×10−6 to 8.0×10−6/° C.
- 7. The fiber array of claim 1, wherein the glass fibers are terminated with planoconvex lenses.
- 8. The fiber array of claim 7, wherein a geometry of the holes comprises a first hole section having a diameter substantially the same as a neck region of the lenses.
- 9. The fiber array of claim 8, wherein the geometry of the holes further comprises a second hole section having a diameter larger than the diameter of the first hole section.
- 10. The fiber array of claim 9, wherein the geometry of the holes further comprises a third hole section for holding the lenses and controlling a position of a tip of each of the lenses with respect to a face of the substrate.
- 11. The fiber array of claim 1, wherein the glass fibers are rod lenses.
- 12. An optical device comprising:
a fiber array mated to a lens array, wherein the fiber array comprises a substrate made of a soft drillable material having a low coefficient of thermal expansion and a plurality of holes drilled through the substrate for holding a plurality of glass fibers; and a lens array comprising a material exhibiting a coefficient of thermal expansion that substantially matches the coefficient of thermal expansion of the soft drillable material.
- 13. The optical device of claim 12, wherein the fiber array comprises a pyrolytic graphite material.
- 14. The optical device of claim 13, wherein the lens array comprises a fused silica material, and the coefficient of thermal expansion of the pyrolytic material and the fused silica material is less than 1.0×10−6/° C.
- 15. The optical device of claim 13, wherein the lens array comprises a glass/glass-ceramic composite plate, and the coefficient of thermal expansion of the pyrolytic graphite material and the glass/glass-ceramic composite is about 8.0×10−6 /° C.
- 16. The optical device of claim 12, wherein the soft drillable material is selected from the group consisting of machinable graphite and machinable ceramic.
- 17. A method of making a fiber array, comprising:
drilling a plurality of holes through a substrate made of a soft drillable material having a low coefficient of thermal expansion; inserting glass fibers into the holes; and securing the glass fibers in place in the holes.
- 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the soft drillable material comprises one selected from the group consisting of pyrolytic graphite, graphite, pyrolytic boron nitride, and boron nitride.
- 19. The method of claim 17, further comprising cutting ends of the glass fibers protruding from a face of the substrate using a laser.
- 20. The method of claim 17, wherein securing the glass fibers in place in the holes comprises filling the holes with a thermoset material and curing the thermoset material.
- 21. The method of claim 17, wherein the glass fibers are terminated with lenses.
- 22. A method of making a lensed fiber array, comprising:
drilling a plurality of holes through a substrate made of a soft drillable material having a low coefficient of thermal expansion; inserting glass fibers into the holes; securing the glass fibers in place in the holes; and forming a lens on an end of each of the glass fibers protruding from a face of the substrate.
- 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the soft drillable material comprises one selected from the group consisting of pyrolytic graphite, graphite, pyrolytic boron nitride, and boron nitride.
- 24. The method of claim 23, wherein the soft drillable material has a coefficient of thermal expansion ranging from about 0.5 to 8.0×10−6/° C.
- 25. The method of claim 22, wherein securing the glass fibers in place in the holes comprises filling the holes with a thermoset material and curing the thermoset material.
- 26. The method of claim 22, wherein forming the lens comprises taper-cutting the end of each of the glass fibers protruding from the face of the substrate.
- 27. The method of claim 26, wherein forming the lens further comprises melting back the end of each of the glass fibers.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/365,680, filed Mar. 18, 2002.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60365680 |
Mar 2002 |
US |