Patents by Inventor Richard F. Druckenmiller

Richard F. Druckenmiller has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Pump redundancy for optical amplifiers
    Patent number: 5173957
    Abstract: Currently laser diode pump redundancy for an optical fiber amplifier is obtained by selectively connecting one of two diode pumps to an optical amplifier via an optical switch. When the diode laser pump which is connected to the amplifier becomes defective, the optical switch is activated, either remotely or automatically, and the good laser diode is substituted for the defective laser diode pump. In another arrangement, two laser diodes are coupled to an optical fiber amplifier via a polarization-dependent optical coupler. In each instance, a second laser diode is required to provide pump redundancy for an optical fiber amplifier.In this invention, at least, two laser diodes are coupled via a 3 dB optical coupler to supply pump power to each of the two optical fiber amplifiers simultaneously. If one of the laser diode pumps fails, the other laser diode pump provides pump power to each of the optical fiber amplifiers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 1991
    Date of Patent: December 22, 1992
    Assignee: AT&T Bell Laboratories
    Inventors: Neal S. Bergano, Richard F. Druckenmiller, Franklin W. Kerfoot, III, Patrick R. Trischitta