Patent Application
20120027417
Fiber optic transmission of data offers many advantages over more traditional forms of data transmission between electronic devices. For instance, optical signals are generally immune to errors caused by electromagnetic interference, and systems utilizing the optical signals are typically less prone to sparking and short circuiting. The use of fiber optic transmission also eliminates ground loop problems by providing electrical isolation between optically linked equipment.
Fiber optic transmission systems is often employed in distributed processing systems, such as, in a local area network, in a data bus system, between various servers, and the like. These systems typically require the use of processors or terminals to communicate data with each other as well as with other peripheral devices. In this regard, conventional fiber optic transmission systems often use a ring or a star type architecture to enable the data communication among a plurality of electronic devices.
Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limited in the following figure(s), in which like numerals indicate like elements, in which:
For simplicity and illustrative purposes, the principles of the embodiments are described by referring mainly to examples thereof. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. It will be apparent however, to one of ordinary skill in the art, that the embodiments may be practiced without limitation to these specific details. In other instances, well known methods and structures are not described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure the description of the embodiments.
Disclosed herein are embodiments directed to an optical power divider and a fiber optic communication system that employs the optical power divider. The optical power divider disclosed herein comprises cylindrical input lenses that receive input light beams and expand the light beams along respective single axes through the optical power divider. Here the term ‘cylindrical’ lens refers to any curved surface that varies along one direction only; for example the cross-section could be circular or hyperbolic. In this regard, the received input light is spread along one axis according to the divergence angle of the source of the light beams, without substantially spreading along other axes, which substantially maximizes the intensities of the light beams. The optical power divider disclosed herein also includes output lenses that vary along two axes, for instance, the output lenses may have spherical or aspheric surfaces and may be positioned along the respective axes of light beam expansion, in which the output lenses are configured to focus the expanded light beams into multiple beams of output light.
A relatively large number of output lenses may be provided on the optical power divider to thus enable the input light beams to be split into a relatively large number of output beams. For instance, a sufficient number of output lenses may be provided to extend across most of the width of an optical power divider such that greater than 90% of the input light is outputted through the output lenses. In this regard, most of the received light may be passed through the optical power divider, which results in substantially maximized output light beam strengths.
The optical power divider disclosed herein may be fabricated from a single plastic component into which the cylindrical input lenses and the spherical or aspheric output lenses are formed. Thus, for instance, the optical power dividers disclosed herein may be formed through a relatively simple and inexpensive molding process.
The optical power divider disclosed herein may be employed in a fiber optic data communication system through which data is communicated among a plurality of electronic devices. In one example, the optical power divider may be operated as a star coupler between a plurality of the electronic devices.
In the following description, the term “light” refers to electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths in the visible and non-visible portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, including infrared and ultra-violet portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
With reference first to
As depicted in
The optical power divider 102 is depicted as having a generally rectangular or square shaped, three-dimensional body 110. It should, however, be clearly understood that the body 110 may have any other suitable three dimensional shape. In any regard, the optical power divider 102 is depicted as including a first side 120 that faces toward the light sources 140 and a second side 130 that faces toward the light beam collectors 150. The first side 120 has also been depicted as including a plurality of cylindrical input lenses 122 that extend across a width of the first side 120, along a y-axis. The cylindrical input lenses 122 have also been depicted as being spaced apart from each other along the z-axis to receive input light beams 142 from respective light beam sources 140. The second side 130 includes a plurality of spherical or aspheric output lenses 132 that are positioned across the width of the second side 130, along the y-axis.
As further shown in
The expansion of the input light beams 142 may be restricted to a single axis to substantially maximize the intensities of the light beams emitted and expanded through the body 110 of the optical power divider 102. In one possible configuration, each of the cylindrical lenses 122 may have a hyperbolic cross section designed such that light originating from a particular point at the light beam source (140) will be perfectly collimated with respect to the z-axis. In addition, the second side 130 of the body 110 may include groups of spherical or aspheric output lenses 132 that extend substantially across the width of the body 110 to substantially maximize the number of output light beams 146 originating from each of the cylindrical input lenses 122. Thus, although the output lenses 132 in each group have been depicted as being relatively spaced apart from each other, it should be clearly understood that the output lenses 132 may be positioned to be substantially adjacent to each other and to substantially fill the space along the y-axis of the second side 130, for instance, as shown in
In addition, the boundaries of the output lenses 132 need not be circular as depicted in the
In one example, the cylindrical input lenses 122 and the spherical or aspheric output lenses 132 are configured to cause substantially all of the input light beams 142, except for light emerging from the light beam sources 140 at too steep of an angle to reach the output lenses 132, to reach the light beam collectors 150.
The body 110 of the optical power divider 102 is formed of a transparent material to substantially minimize intensity loss of the light beams through the body 110. By way of example, the body 110 comprises a plastic material, a glass material, a combination of plastic and glass materials, and the like. In one embodiment, the body 110 is molded to include the cylindrical input lenses 122 and the spherical/aspheric output lenses 132. In another embodiment, the cylindrical input lenses 122 and the spherical/aspheric output lenses 132 are formed on the body 110 by, for instance, diamond turning, etching, carving, milling, photolithography, melting and reflow, etc.
The light beam sources 140 may comprise any suitable devices through which light beams may be supplied to the optical power divider 102. By way of example, the light beam sources 140 comprise multimode fibers, single-mode fibers, vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, hollow waveguides, optical waveguides, etc. In addition, the light beam collectors 150 may comprise any suitable devices through which light beams may be collected and transmitted. By way of example, the light beam collectors 150 comprise multimode fibers, optical waveguides, etc.
Although not shown, the positions of the light beam sources 140 and the light beam collectors 150 may be substantially maintained with respect to the optical power divider 102 in any suitable manner that does not interfere with the transmission of the input light beams 142 or the output light beams 146. Thus, for instance, the positions of the light beam sources 140 and the light beam collectors 150 may substantially be maintained through use of mechanical components, such as, brackets, or other components. As another example, the light beam sources 140 and the light beam collectors 150 may be attached to the optical power divider 102 through use of adhesives.
With reference now to
The data communication system 200 depicted in
As shown in
As shown in
Turning now to
The data communication system 300 depicted in
The foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, used specific nomenclature to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the specific details are not required in order to practice the invention. The foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the present invention are presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive of or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Obviously, many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings. The embodiments are shown and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the following claims and their equivalents:
