Patents by Inventor Joanne S. LaCourse

Joanne S. LaCourse 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).

  • Patent number: 5026138
    Abstract: A method of compensating for the angular coupling of optical fibers to a tilted facet optoelectronic component involves a precise calculation of the coupling angle with respect to the active layer of the component and with respect to the side walls of the package in which the component is to be mounted. With these angles computed, the tilted facet component is positioned on a carrier at an offset to the perpendicular such that input/output fibers can exit the component package perpendicularly to its sidewalls. The component is secured to the carrier by a solder having a high melting point such that subsequent soldering of parts to the carrier will not affect the component positioning. A localized cooling method then allows the sequential alignment and soldering of one optical fiber at a time to the offset tilted facet component, while previously aligned and soldered optical fibers are held fixed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 1989
    Date of Patent: June 25, 1991
    Assignee: GTE Laboratories Incorporated
    Inventors: Robert A. Boudreau, Joanne S. LaCourse
  • Patent number: 4944569
    Abstract: A localized cooling method allows the sequential alignment and soldering of one optical fiber at a time to a semiconductor package, while previously aligned and soldered optical fibers are held fixed. This method utilizes the mechanical property of a sharp melting point eutectic alloy solder or a pure metal solder for the fiber connections and is effective for multi-fiber optoelectronic packages demanding stability and high precision. A package design for optoelectronic components requiring multi-fiber alignment incorporates this feature of localized cooling internally. The localized cooling method and the novel package utilizing this method internally make it possible to eliminate the tilted angle optical fiber alignment problem by mounting tilted facet optical amplifier components at a predetermined offset angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 1989
    Date of Patent: July 31, 1990
    Assignee: GTE Laboratories Incorporated
    Inventors: Robert A. Boudreau, Joanne S. LaCourse