MONOLITHIC OPTICAL FIBER STUB ARRAY

We present a new component for optical connector applications, a single piece of photochemically machinable glass (Corning Fotoform) that is etched to produce thin pillars (approximately 55-mu-m diameter, 700-mu-m long) extending from both sides of a thin (170-mu-m-thick) supporting plane. Thus a two-dimensional optical fiber array is formed without any assembly. We measure a -2.5-dB insertion loss and less than -30-dB cross talk using a laser (approximately 3-degrees focusing angle) and a -7.8-dB insertion loss and -18-dB cross talk using a collimated lamp (approximately 30-degrees focusing angle). On tilting the array the outgoing beam is deflected, which indicates strong guiding.