Patents by Inventor François Bilodeau

François Bilodeau 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).

  • Method for making a grating assisted optical waveguide device
    Patent number: 4963177
    Abstract: The present disclosure makes a grating assisted optical waveguide device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 1989
    Date of Patent: October 16, 1990
    Assignee: Canadian Patents and Development Limited/Societe Canadienne des Brevets et d'Exploitation Limitee
    Inventors: Seyed-Iraj Najafi, Kenneth O. Hill, Francois Bilodeau, Derwyn C. Johnson
  • Wavelength selective optical devices using optical directional coupler
    Patent number: 4900119
    Abstract: New types of narrowband wavelength selective optical devices are described. Various configurations are possible, according to the invention, that perform as narrowband wavelength selective transmission or reflection filters or as narrowband wavelength selective optical taps or combiners. The optical devices of the invention include a 3 dB optical directional coupler and wavelength selecting elements such as Bragg reflection gratings or Fabry-Perot resonators usually positioned in optical symmetry with respect to the directional coupler. Two or more wavelength selecting elements can be used to obtain desired filtering characteristics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 1988
    Date of Patent: February 13, 1990
    Assignee: Canadian Patents & Development Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenneth O. Hill, Derwyn C. Johnson, Francois Bilodeau, Sylvain Faucher
  • Fabrication technique for low-loss fused taper directional couplers and pressure sensor produced thereby
    Patent number: 4895423
    Abstract: A method of forming a single mode biconical fiber optic coupler comprising holding 2 or more optical fibers parallel to and in contact with each other at spaced apart locations, exerting equal tension in opposite directions to the fibers at said spaced apart locations to stretch the fibers, fusing the fibers over a waist region, and scanning the tip of a flame from a microtorch back and forth along the fibers at a speed which is at least five times the speed of stretching of the fibers. This results in an overcoupled low loss coupler, a pressure or a temperature sensor, comprised of at least a pair of monomode optical fibers fused and parallel at a stretched waist portion, each having biconical tapers at opposite ends of the waist portion, the coupler having exhibited at least about 500 power transfer cycles during stretching formation of the waist portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 1989
    Date of Patent: January 23, 1990
    Assignee: Canadian Patents and Development Limited
    Inventors: Francois Bilodeau, Kenneth O. Hill, Sylvain Faucher, Derwyn C. Johnson
  • Modal-insensitive biconical taper couplers
    Patent number: 4586784
    Abstract: The modal-insensitive coupler consists of a number N of optical multimode fiber lengths, each fiber length having a core of initial predetermined cross-sectional area. The fiber lengths are fused together in a coupling section such that the cores of the fiber lengths have a reduced cross-sectional area in the coupling section which supports a minimum number of modes of optical energy at a predetermined wavelength, and such that the fiber lengths have different core cross-sectional areas to produce preselected coupling ratios.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 1985
    Date of Patent: May 6, 1986
    Assignee: Canadian Patents & Dev. Limited
    Inventors: Yves Tremblay, Brian S. Kawasaki, Francois Bilodeau