Patents Examined by Jerry Blevins
  • Fiber optic interconnect systems and methods
    Patent number: 9651755
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of fiber optic connectivity, and more specifically, to systems and methods for connecting fiber optic transceivers. In an embodiment, the present invention provides a system which enables the interconnection of fiber optic transceivers such as, for example, 24-fiber transceivers like the 100GBASE-SR10 transceivers while maintaining appropriate fiber polarity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2017
    Assignee: Panduit Corp.
    Inventor: Phillip J. Irwin
  • Optical port having minimalist footprint
    Patent number: 9645339
    Abstract: Disclosed are optical ports and devices having a minimalist footprint. Specifically, the optical ports and devices have a footprint where the optical elements are exposed at a frame of the device. Additionally, a frame of the device provides a portion of the mating surface for engaging a complimentary optical plug during mating with the optical port on the device. This minimalist footprint advantageously allows for a smaller portion of the optical port to be exposed to the environment and subject to damage and/or wear. Further, the optical port provides a clean and sleek optical port on the device with a relatively small surface that may be cleaned or wiped by the user as necessary.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: CORNING OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Micah Colen Isenhour, Dennis Michael Knecht, James Phillip Luther
  • Optical port having one or more alignment features
    Patent number: 9645338
    Abstract: Disclosed are optical ports and devices using the optical ports. The optical port includes a mounting body having a first pocket and at least one mounting surface for securing the optical port, one or more optical elements, and a first alignment feature disposed in the pocket, wherein the alignment feature includes a piston that is translatable during mating. The one or more optical elements may be an integral portion of the mounting body or a discrete lens. In other embodiments, the mounting body may include a plurality of pockets and one of the pockets may include a magnet for securing a plug to the optical port. The optical port may optionally have a minimalist optical port footprint so that the complimentary mating optical plug engages a portion of the frame during mating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: CORNING OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Venkata Adiseshaiah Bhagavatula, Micah Colen Isenhour, Dennis Michael Knecht, James Phillip Luther
  • Athermal hybrid optical source
    Patent number: 9638858
    Abstract: A hybrid optical source that provides an optical signal having a wavelength (or a narrow band of wavelengths) is described. This hybrid optical source includes an optical amplifier (such as a III-V semiconductor optical amplifier) that is butt-coupled or vertically coupled to a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform, and which outputs an optical signal. The SOI platform includes an optical waveguide that conveys the optical signal. A temperature-compensation element included in the optical waveguide compensates for temperature dependence of the indexes of refraction of the optical amplifier and the optical waveguide. In addition, a reflector, adjacent to the optical waveguide after the temperature-compensation element, reflects a portion of the optical signal and transmits another portion of the optical signal that has the wavelength.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: ORACLE INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ying L. Luo, Xuezhe Zheng, Ashok V. Krishnamoorthy
  • Universal fiber optic connector
    Patent number: 9625653
    Abstract: A universal fiber optic connector includes a housing and a fiber attachment element configured to attach an optical fiber in the housing. The attachment element positions the optical fiber such that an end face of the fiber is held within the housing. The fiber end face is positioned such that a beam of light emerging from the fiber end face has a defined wavefront located at a specified interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: IPG PHOTONICS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mark W. Byer, Manuel J. Leonardo, Gregory L. Keaton
  • Method for manufacturing optical fiber combiner, optical fiber combiner, and laser device
    Patent number: 9612399
    Abstract: Optical fiber combiner includes a plurality of input optical fibers having a core and a cladding surrounding the core, a bridge fiber having a portion that transmits a light beam entered from each of the input optical fibers, and a glass member fusion-spliced to an end face of the cladding and to a first end face of the bridge fiber. The end portions of the claddings of the plurality of input optical fibers are bundled on at least a first end face side, with the adjacent side surfaces of the claddings being in contact with each other. The glass member has an outer diameter greater than the diameter of the core and smaller than the outer diameter of the cladding. The adjacent glass members are in a non-fusion-spliced state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: FUJIKURA LTD.
    Inventor: Yoshikiyo Noguchi
  • Off quadrature biasing of mach zehnder modulator for improved OSNR performance
    Patent number: 9612457
    Abstract: An integrated optical modulator device. The device can include a driver module coupled to an optical modulator. The optical modulator is characterized by a raised cosine transfer function. This optical modulator can be coupled to a light source and a bias control module, which is configured to apply an off-quadrature bias to the optical modulator. This bias can be accomplished by applying an inverse of the modulator transfer function to the optical modulator in order to minimize a noise variance. This compression function can result in an optimized increased top eye opening for a signal associated with the optical modulator. Furthermore, the optical modulator can be coupled to an EDFA (Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier) that is coupled to a filter coupled an O/E (Optical-to-Electrical) receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: INPHI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Radhakrishnan L. Nagarajan, Hari Shankar, Masaki Kato, Yang Fu
  • Optical connector
    Patent number: 9606298
    Abstract: As a cylindrical optical connector, an optical connector includes a pushing member that has a structure that is suitable for holding a coil spring in the optical connector, and that has a structure that, even if clockwise or counterclockwise twisting occurs with respect to an axial direction of the optical connector, properly restricts rotation of the pushing member and, thus, does not allow disengagement of the pushing member caused by an applied force resulting from the rotation of the pushing member to easily occur.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: HIROSE ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takuya Sato, Shinichi Matsumoto, Yoshiyuki Hiyama
  • Multilevel waveguide structure
    Patent number: 9606291
    Abstract: Integrated optical structures include a first wafer layer, a first insulator layer directly connected to the top of the first wafer layer, a second wafer layer directly connected to the top of the first insulator layer, a second insulator layer directly connected to the top of the second wafer layer, and a third wafer layer directly connected to the top of the second insulator layer. Such structures include: a first optical waveguide positioned within the second wafer layer; an optical coupler positioned within the second wafer layer, the second insulator layer, and the third wafer layer; and a second optical waveguide positioned within the third wafer layer. The optical coupler transmits an optical beam from the first optical waveguide to the second optical waveguide through the second insulator layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: GLOBALFOUNDRIES INC.
    Inventors: John J. Ellis-Monaghan, Brendan S. Harris, Vibhor Jain, Yves T. Ngu, Sebastian T. Ventrone
  • Optoelectronic device
    Patent number: 9599782
    Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention relates to an optoelectronic device comprising an optoelectronic component, a waveguide having an optical waveguide section and an electrical conductor section, the optical waveguide section being transparent for radiation of a given wavelength or a given wavelength range and capable of guiding the radiation along the longitudinal axis of the waveguide, wherein the optical waveguide section is optically butt-coupled to an optical surface section of the optoelectronic component, and wherein the electrical conductor section is mechanically butt-coupled to an electrical contact of the optoelectronic component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Technische Universitaet Berlin
    Inventors: Alexander Schlehahn, Tobias Heindel, Sven Rodt, Stephan Reitzenstein
  • Fiber optic splicing assembly
    Patent number: 9594217
    Abstract: A fiber optic splicing assembly is disclosed having an assembly housing and a fiber storing device. The assembly housing has a mounting side and an opposite outer facing side. The fiber storing device is removably mounted to the assembly housing, and is at least partially received in an assembly receiving passageway of a mounting wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignees: ADC Telecommunications (Shanghai) Distribution Co., Ltd., ADC Communications (Australia) Pty. Limited
    Inventors: Teller Xiao, Yanhong Yang, Liming Wang, Paul Hubbard
  • High bandwidth multimode optical fiber optimized for multimode and single-mode transmissions
    Patent number: 9588285
    Abstract: It is proposed an optical fiber including an optical core and an optical cladding surrounding the optical core. The optical core has a refractive graded-index profile with a minimal refractive index n1 and a maximal refractive index n0. The optical fiber has a numerical aperture NA and an optical core radius ? satisfying a criterion C of quality of optical communications defined by the following equation: C=NA?0.02×a where: NA=?{square root over (n02?n12)}=n0·?{square root over (2?)} with ? = n 0 2 - n 1 2 2 ? ? n 0 2 , ? is the normalized refractive index difference. The minimal and maximal refractive indexes n1, n0 and the optical core radius a are chosen such that NA>0.20, a>10 ?m and |C|<0.20.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: DRAKA COMTEQ BV
    Inventors: Denis Molin, Pierre Sillard, Pierre Sansonetti
  • MEMS based photonic devices and methods for forming
    Patent number: 9588293
    Abstract: Various particular embodiments include a primary waveguide including an end section; cantilevered waveguides, each cantilevered waveguide including an end section disposed adjacent the end section of the primary waveguide; and control pins for applying an electrical bias to the cantilevered waveguides to selectively displace the end sections of the cantilevered waveguides away from the end section of the primary waveguide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John J. Ellis-Monaghan, Brendan S. Harris, Vibhor Jain, Thomas Kessler, Yves T. Ngu, Sebastian T. Ventrone
  • Fiber optic connector sub-assemblies and related methods
    Patent number: 9581768
    Abstract: A fiber optic connector sub-assembly includes a ferrule having a front end, a rear end, and a ferrule bore extending between the front and rear ends along a longitudinal axis. The fiber optic connector sub-assembly also includes a bonding agent disposed in the ferrule bore and having first and second ends along the longitudinal axis. The bonding agent has been melted and solidified at the first and second ends.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Corning Optical Communications LLC
    Inventors: Adra Smith Baca, Rebecca Lynn Burt, Jeffrey Dean Danley, Darrin Max Miller, Dennis Craig Morrison
  • Digital dispersion compensation module
    Patent number: 9575254
    Abstract: Embodiments of present invention provide a digital dispersion compensation module. The digital dispersion compensation module includes a multi-port optical circulator; and a plurality of dispersion compensation units connected to the multi-port optical circulator, wherein at least one of the plurality of dispersion compensation units includes a fiber-bragg grating (FBG) having a first port and a second port; and an optical switch being capable of selectively connecting to one of the first port and the second port of the FBG, wherein the at least one of the plurality of dispersion compensation units is adapted to provide a positive dispersion to an optical signal, from the multi-port optical circulator, when the optical switch connects to the first port of the FBG and is adapted to provide a negative dispersion to the optical signal when the optical switch connects to the second port of the FBG.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Inventors: Tongqing Wang, Dobby Lam, Jinghui Li
  • Optical fiber for the reduction of stimulated Brillouin scattering in high-power applications
    Patent number: 9575248
    Abstract: The invention relates to an optical fiber comprising a core and a cladding, wherein the core is made of a glass composition having a near-zero electrostrictive coefficient M11, to reduce the effect of stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS). The invention further relates to a compensation fiber segment for connection to a silica optical fiber, the compensation fiber segment being made of a glass composition having an electrostrictive coefficient that opposes that of the silica optical fiber so that an acoustic wave transmitted to compensation fiber segment from the silica optical fiber will generate an acoustic wave within the compensation fiber segment that is about 180 degrees out of phase with the that acoustic wave transmitted from the silica optical fiber, thereby minimizing the effect of stimulated Brillouin Scattering.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: SCHOTT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Nathan Aaron Carlie, Mark J. Davis, Eric H. Urruti, Simi George, Joseph Hayden
  • Optical relay cable
    Patent number: 9571195
    Abstract: Described herein is a system for transmitting an optical signal from a first location to a second location. The system may include first and second mounting fixtures, a reception module, an optical fiber, and a transmission module. The first fixture may define at least a first cavity and a first aperture at the bottom of the cavity. The reception module may be disposed in the cavity, and include a reflector for receiving the optical signal from a first direction through the first aperture and redirecting the optical signal in another direction. The optical fiber may be for receiving the optical signal from the reflector. The second fixture may define at least a second cavity and a second aperture on the side of the cavity. The transmission module may be disposed in the second cavity and direct the optical signal from the optical fiber through the second aperture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: ECHOSTAR TECHNOLOGIES L.L.C.
    Inventors: Eric Berg, Svitlana Trygubova
  • Inter-mode light switch
    Patent number: 9563020
    Abstract: Provided is an optical mode switch that can effect a more compact optical switch. The optical mode switch (100) is provided with: a single input port (1); a single output port (2); two waveguides (10) provided in parallel between the input port (1) and the output port (2); and a refractive index altering means (8) that alters the refractive index of the waveguides. Any given mode light input to the input port (1) is output as any given mode light from the output port (2) in accordance with the refractive index altered by the refractive index altering means (8).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: KYUSHU UNIVERSITY, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kiichi Hamamoto
  • Optimized 2×2 3dB multi-mode interference coupler
    Patent number: 9557486
    Abstract: An optimized SOI 2×2 multimode interference (MMI) coupler is designed by use of the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) simulation shows that, within a footprint of 9.4×1.6 ?m2, <0.1 dB power unbalance and <1 degree phase error are achieved across the entire C-band. The excess loss of the device is <0.2 dB.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: Elenion Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Yangjin Ma
  • Optical element, light transmitting device, and light receiving device
    Patent number: 9547132
    Abstract: An optical element includes: a first delayed interferometer; and a second delayed interferometer and a third delayed interferometer cascaded to the first delayed interferometer. The first delayed interferometer includes: a first optical coupler and a second optical coupler; a first waveguide between the first optical coupler and the second optical coupler; a second waveguide between the first optical coupler and the second optical coupler, the second waveguide being longer than the first waveguide; and a ring waveguide that is coupled to the first waveguide. A difference between a length of the first waveguide and a length of the second waveguide differs from a difference in lengths corresponding to a channel spacing by a length corresponding to a phase displacement caused by loading of the ring waveguide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2017
    Assignees: FUJITSU LIMITED, PHOTONICS ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH ASSOCIATION
    Inventor: Seokhwan Jeong