Abstract: This invention concerns a method for connecting optical fibres, comprising stages consisting in (i) effecting a controlled rough polishing of the interface (5) of the fibres (1) to be connected, (ii) steeping the ends of the fibres (1) in a concentrated solution hydrofluoric acid and (iii) aligning then connecting the fibres (1) using an index matching material (FIG. 4). The invention also concerns a variable optical attenuator and a system using this attenuator to measure the effect of the reflection coefficient on an optical line.

Abstract: A method of generating a quasi-complex hologram using incoherent light and a conoscope system comprising a birefringent crystal (30) inserted between two circular polarizers (10, 20), the method comprising the following steps: (i) recording a plurality of different conoscopic holograms of the same object without relative displacement thereof and with respective different polarization configurations; and (ii) combining the various conoscopic holograms obtained in this way in order to remove the bias and the conjugate image. The invention also relates to a device for implementing the method.

Abstract: A wideband server is defined by a main processor (10) communicating over a DMA channel (15) with a hard disk (16) and also with outlet cards (2-1 to 2-16). Each outlet card has its own processor which controls alternating mode to-processor access to two buffer memories A and B. While one of the buffer memories is delivering musical data to a user, the other is being filled, and vice versa.

Abstract: A microbeam laser machine for operating on objects having thin layers comprises a platen (14) which is rigid and undeformable and which has optical components mounted thereon defining a laser beam transmission path (34, 36, 38, 46), an illumination path (54, 55, 46), and an observation path (70, 74, 76). The invention is intended, in particular, for microoperations on integrated circuits and other objects having thin layers.