With the demand for broadband connectivity on the rise due to various services like video-on-demand and cloud computing becoming more popular, the need for better connectivity infrastructure is high. The only future- proof option to supply this infrastructure is to deploy "fiber to the home" (FTTH) networks. One of the main difficulties with the deployment of FTTH is the vast amount of single-mode fiber (SMF) connections that need to be made. Hence there is a strong need for components which enable high performance, robust and easy-to- use SMF connectors. Since large-scale deployment is the goal, these components should be mass-producible at low cost. We discuss a rapid prototyping process on the basis of hot embossing replication of a self-centering alignment system (SCAS) based on three micro-springs, which can position a SMF independently of its diameter. This is beneficial since there is a fabrication tolerance of up to ±1 μm on a standard G.652 SMF's diameter that can lead to losses if the outer diameter is used as a reference for alignment. The SCAS is first prototyped with deep proton writing (DPW) in polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) after which it is glued to a copper substrate with an adhesive. Using an electroforming process, a nickel block is grown over the PMMA prototype followed by mechanical finishing to fabricate a structured nickel mould insert. Even though the mould insert shows non- ideal and rounded features it is used to create PMMA replicas of the SCAS by means of hot embossing. The SCAS possesses a central opening in which a bare SMF can be clamped, which is designed with a diameter of 121 μm. PMMA replicas are dimensionally characterized using a multisensor coordinate measurement machine and show a central opening diameter of 128.3 ± 2.8 μm. This should be compared to the central opening diameter of the DPW prototype used for mould formation which was measured to be 120.5 μm. This shows that the electroforming and subsequent replication process is possible for complex micro-scale components and could be accurate after optimisation. We characterized the sidewall roughness of PMMA replicas using a non- contact optical profiler, resulting in a root-mean-square roughness of 48 nm over an area of 63.7 μm×47.8 μm. This low sidewall roughness is especially important in the replication of high aspect ratio structures to facilitate demoulding since the sidewalls cause the most friction with the mould insert.

It is known that cleaving an optical fiber introduces a number of irregularities and defects to the fiber’s end-face, such as hackles and shockwaves. These defects can act as failure initiators when stress is applied to the end-face. Given the fiber’s small diameter of 125 ffm, a large amount of mechanical stress can be expected to be applied on its end-face during the mating-demating cycle. In addition, a connector in a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network can be expected to be mated and demated more than 30 times during its lifetime for purposes such as testing, churning, or provisioning. For this reason, the performance of a connector that displays low optical loss when first installed can dramatically degrade after few mating-demating cycles and catastrophic connector failure due to end-face breakage is likely. We present plasma discharge shaping of cleaved fiber tips to strongly improve the endurance of the fibers to repeated mating-demating cycles. We quantify the dependency of the plasma-induced surface curvature of the fiber tip on the plasma duration and on the position of the fiber tip within the plasma cloud. Finally we present data showing the improved endurance of fibers that are exposed to plasma compared to conventional as-cleaved fibers.

The European Commission’s goal of providing each European household with at least a 30 Mb s−1 Internet connection by 2020 would be facilitated by a widespread deployment of fibre-to-the-home, which would in turn be sped up by the development of connector essential components, such as high-precision alignment features. Currently, the performance of state-of-the-art physical contact optical fiber connectors is limited by the tolerance on the cladding of standard telecom-grade single-mode fiber (SMF), which is typically smaller than  ±1 μm. We propose to overcome this limit by developing micro-spring-based self-centering alignment structures (SCAS) for SMF-connectors. We design these alignment structures with robustness and low-cost replication in mind, allowing for large-scale deployment. Both theoretical and finite element analysis (FEA) models are used to determine the optimal dimensions of the beams of which the micro-springs of the SCAS are comprised. Two topologies of the SCAS, consisting of three and four micro-springs respectively, are investigated for two materials: polysulfone (PSU) and polyetherimide (PEI). These materials hold great potential for high-performance fiber connectors while being compatible with low-cost production and with the harsh environmental operation conditions of those connectors. The theory and FEA agree well (<3% difference) for a simple micro-spring. When including a pedestal on the micro-spring (to bring it further away from the fiber) and for shorter spring lengths the agreement worsens. This is due to spring compression effects not being taken into account in our theoretical model. Prototypes are successfully fabricated using deep proton writing and subsequently characterized. The controlled insertion of an SMF in the SCAS is investigated and we determine that a force of 0.11 N is required. The fiber insertion also causes an out-of-plane deformation of the micro-springs in the SCAS of about 7 μm, which is no problem for robustness according to the FEA model. Finally connector-assemblies are made with the alignment system and we show that an insertion loss down to 0.1 dB is achievable. The prototypes are subsequently used as a sacrificial master for mould fabrication through electroplating with the goal of low-cost replication through hot embossing.

This paper presents the hot-embossing replication of self-centering fiber alignment structures for high-precision, single-mode optical fiber connectors. To this end, a metal mold insert was fabricated by electroforming a polymer prototype patterned by means of deep proton writing (DPW). To achieve through-hole structures, we developed a postembossing process step to remove the residual layer inherently present in hot-embossed structures. The geometrical characteristics of the hot-embossed replicas are compared, before and after removal of the residual layer, with the DPW prototypes. Initial measurements on the optical performance of the replicas are performed. The successful replication of these components paves the way toward low-cost mass replication of DPW-fabricated prototypes in a variety of high-tech plastics. (C) 2016 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).

For mass production of multiscale-optical components, microstructured moulding tools are needed. Metal tools are used for hot embossing or injection moulding of microcomponents made of a thermoplastic polymer. Microstructures with extremely tight specifications, e.g. low side wall roughness and high aspect ratios are generally made by lithographic procedures such as x-ray lithography or deep proton writing. However, these processes are unsuitable for low-cost mass production. An alternative manufacturing method of moulding tools has been developed at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). This article describes a mould insert fabrication and a new replication process for self-centring fibre alignment structures for low loss field installable single-mode fibre connectors, developed and fabricated by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in collaboration with TE Connectivity. These components are to be used in fibre-to-the-home networks and support the deployment and maintenance of fibre optic links. The special feature of this particular fibre connector is a self-centring fibre alignment, achieved by means of a through hole with deflectable cantilevers acting as micro-springs. The particular challenge is the electroforming of through holes with a centre hole diameter smaller than 125 mu m. The fibre connector structure is prototyped by deep proton writing in polymethylmethacrylate and used as a sacrificial part. Using joining, physical vapour deposition and electroforming technology, a negative copy of the prototyped connector is transferred into nickel to be used as a moulding tool. The benefits of this replication technique are a rapid and economical fabrication of moulding tools with high-precision microstructures and a long tool life. With these moulding tools low-cost mass production is possible. We present the manufacturing chain we have established. Each individual manufacturing step of the mould insert fabrication will be shown in this report. The process reliability and suitability for mass production was tested by hot embossing.

There is a steady increase in the demand for internet bandwidth, primarily driven by cloud services and high-definition video streaming. Europe's Digital Agenda states the ambitious objective that by 2020 all Europeans should have access to internet at speeds of 30Mb/s or above, with 50% or more of households subscribing to connections of 100Mb/s. Today however, internet access in Europe is mainly based on the first generation of broadband, meaning internet accessed over legacy telephone copper and TV cable networks. In recent years, Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) networks have been adopted as a replacement of traditional electrical connections for the `last mile' transmission of information at bandwidths over 1Gb/s. However, FTTH penetration is still very low (< 5%) in most major Western economies. The main reason for this is the high deployment cost of FTTH networks. Indeed, the success and adoption of optical access networks critically depend on the quality and reliability of connections between optical fibers. In particular a further reduction of insertion loss of field- installable connectors must be achieved without a significant increase in component cost. This requires precise alignment of fibers that can differ in terms of ellipticity, eccentricity or diameter and seems hardly achievable using today's widespread ferrule-based alignment systems. In this paper, we present a field-installable connector based on deflectable/compressible spring structures, providing a self-centering functionality for the fiber. This way, it can accommodate for possible fiber cladding diameter variations (the tolerance on the cladding diameter of G.652 fiber is typically ±0.7μm). The mechanical properties of the cantilever are derived through an analytical approximation and a mathematical model of the spring constant, and finite element-based simulations are carried out to find the maximum first principal stress as well as the stress distribution distribution in the fiber alignment structure. Elastic constants of the order of 104N=m are found to be compatible with a proof stress of 70 M Pa. We show the successful prototyping of 3-spring fiber alignment structures using deep proton writing and investigate their compatibility with replication techniques such as hot embossing and injection moulding. Fiber insertion in our self-centering alignment structures is achieved by means of a dedicated interferometric setup allowing assessment of the fiber facet quality, of the fiber's position in relation to the connector's front and of the spring deformation during fiber insertion. These self-centering structures have the potential to become the basic building blocks for a new generation of field-installable connectors, ultimately breaking the current paradigm of ferrule-based connectivity requiring extensive pre-engineering and highly specialized manpower for field deployment.

We present an advanced simulation tool for optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR) with the ability to incorporate any OTDR pulse shape. According to our knowledge, the proposed OTDR simulator is the first one with this feature, thus progressing beyond the existing state of the art of OTDR simulations. Starting from a mathematical formalism, we develop the numerical implementation of the simulation tool. To include the effects of the OTDR pulse shape, the optical fiber network under test is treated in our approach as a linear time-invariant single-input/single-output system. Furthermore, the limitations of current OTDR equipment such as (nonlinear) power saturation of the OTDR detector, and limited dynamic range due to detector noise are also incorporated into the simulation model. Our simulation results are experimentally verified with OTDR measurements, and we show an excellent agreement between the simulated traces and the measured traces. The advanced OTDR simulation tool has proven to correctly reproduce measured traces of systems for various pulse widths, and is thus very valuable to evaluate the usability of OTDR measurements for a certain application, without the need to run actual OTDR measurements.

We present a comprehensive mathematical formalism, together with its numerical implementation, for optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR) simulations with the ability to produce OTDR traces of passive optical point-to-multipoint networks (PONs). According to our knowledge, the proposed OTDR simulator is the first one with this feature, thus progressing beyond the existing state of the art of OTDR simulations. In our approach, the optical fiber network under test is treated as a linear time-invariant single-input/single-output system, which allows us to include the effects of the OTDR pulse shape. Furthermore, the limitations of current OTDR equipment such as (nonlinear) power saturation of the detector, limited dynamic range due to OTDR noise, and the finite bandwidth of the detector, are also incorporated into the simulation model. Our simulation results are experimentally verified with OTDR measurements, and we show an excellent agreement between the simulated traces and the measured traces. Especially, we demonstrate that the simulations properly handle PONs, that may contain a cascade of splitters, providing an important tool for telecom operators to investigate cost-effective centralized monitoring techniques in fiber-to-the-home networks.

A low-loss polymer medium to interconnect 2 single mode optical fibers is developed and characterized. It consists of a so-called self-written waveguide (SWW) formed by illuminating a photosensitive polymerization mix with light emanating from the fiber, after which the exposed part polymerizes. Depending on the material system used, this waveguide can have a step index or graded refractive index profile. The fabrication process and its effect on the waveguide performance are explained using an empirical model and afterwards experimentally verified. This approach enables easy process monitoring and optimization, effectively resulting in total insertion losses below 0.3 dB for a single mode fiber-SWW-fiber transition at 1550 nm.

To boost the deployment of fiber-to-the-home networks in order to meet the ever-increasing demand for bandwidth, there is a strong need for single-mode fiber (SMF) connectors which combine low insertion loss with field installability. Shifting from ferrule-based to ferruleless connectors can reduce average insertion losses appreciably and minimize modal noise interference. We propose a ferruleless connector and adaptor in which physical contact between two inline fibers is ensured by at least one fiber being in a buckled state. To this end, we design a buckling cavity in which the SMF can buckle in a controlled way to ensure good optical performance as well as mechanical stability. This design is based on both mechanical and optical considerations. Finite element analysis suggests that mechanically a minimal buckling cavity length of 17 mm is required, while the height of the cavity should be chosen such that the buckled SMF is not mechanically confined to ensure buckling in a first-order mode. The optical bending loss in the buckled SMF is calculated using a fully vectorial mode solver, showing that a minimal buckling cavity length of 20 mm is necessary to keep the excess optical loss from bending below 0.1 dB. Both our optical and mechanical simulation results are experimentally verified. (C) 2014 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks provide an ideal means to reach the goal the European Union has set to provide 50 % of the households with a broadband connection faster than 100 Mb/s. Deployment of FTTH networks, which is still costly today, could be significantly boosted by novel ferrule-less connectors which don't require highly skilled personnel and allow installation in the field. We propose a ferrule-less connector in which two single-mode fibres (SMFs) are aligned and maintain physical contact by ensuring that at least one fibre is in a buckled state. To this end, we design a cavity in which a fibre can buckle in a controlled way. Using finite element analysis simulations to investigate the shape of the formed buckle for various buckling cavity lengths, we show that it can be accurately approximated by a cosine function. In addition, the optical performance of a buckled SMF is investigated by bending loss calculations and simulations. We show a good agreement between the analytical and the simulated bending loss results for a G.652 fibre at a wavelength of 1550 nm. Buckling cavity lengths smaller than 20 mm should be avoided to keep the optical bending loss due to buckling below 0.1 dB. In this case the cavity height should at least be 2 mm to avoid mechanical confinement of the fibre.

We present an easily applicable alternative for fusion splicing of single mode fibers. Two cleaved fibers are pre-aligned in a field-installable connector and then a polymer waveguide bridge is created between the fibers.

Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) networks have been adopted as a potential replacement of traditional electrical connections for the 'last mile' transmission of information at bandwidths over 1Gb/s. However, the success and adoption of optical access networks critically depend on the quality and reliability of connections between optical fibers. In particular a further reduction of insertion loss of field-installable connectors must be achieved without a significant increase in component cost. This requires precise alignment of fibers that can differ in terms of ellipticity, eccentricity or diameter and seems hardly achievable using today's widespread ferrule-based alignment systems. Novel low-cost structures for bare fiber alignment with outstanding positioning accuracies are strongly desired as they would allow reducing loss beyond the level achievable with ferrule-bore systems. However, the realization of such alignment system is challenging as it should provide sufficient force to position the fiber with sub-micron accuracy required in positioning the fiber. In this contribution we propose, design and prototype a bare-fiber alignment system which makes use of deflectable/compressible micro-cantilevers. Such cantilevers behave as springs and provide self-centering functionality to the structure. Simulations of the mechanical properties of the cantilevers are carried out in order to get an analytical approximation and a mathematical model of the spring constant and stress in the structure. Elastic constants of the order of 104 to 105N/m are found out to be compatible with a proof stress of 70 MPa. Finally a first self-centering structure is prototyped in PMMA using our Deep Proton Writing technology. The spring constants of the fabricated cantilevers are in the range of 4 to 6 × 104N/m and the stress is in the range 10 to 20 MPa. These self-centering structures have the potential to become the basic building blocks for a new generation of field-installable connectors.

We introduce a novel concept of discretely tunable semiconductor lasers with on-chip filtered optical feedback. The integrated device is based on a semiconductor ring laser that can sustain two counter-propagating modes. By means of a directional coupler, part of the light emitted by the laser is coupled out to a feedback section integrated on the same chip. The feedback section contains two arrayed waveguide gratings and a set of semiconductor optical amplifiers to provide filtering of particular longitudinal modes sustained by the ring cavity. By controlling the current injected into the semiconductor optical amplifiers, single mode operation in both directions is achieved. In this paper, the design, characterization, and modeling of the device is presented.

A new integrated tunable laser combining simple tuning method with ns switching speed has been designed, fabricated and investigated. It consists of a Fabry-Perot laser with deeply-etched DBR mirrors. The Fabry-Perot modes can be selected independently using an Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) and then re-injected into the laser cavity, forcing single mode operation. A rate equation model predicts that a properly designed device can switch within 1 ns, while characterization measurements show a value of only 3 ns.

Recently we presented a novel discretely tunable laser that consists of a Fabry-Perot laser which was forced to operate in single-mode condition by applying on-chip filtered feedback. The laser switches extremely fast (3 ns) and requires simple on/off control currents to switch the wavelength. In these first devices it was not possible to control the phase of the feedback light independently from the feedback intensity. In was solved by adding an extra electrode allowing us to control the phase separately. In this paper we present the new device and study the effect of the control ofthefeedbackphase in order to improve the performance ofthe original tunable laser concept.

A novel discretely tunable laser based on filtered feedback is presented. The semiconductor device consists of a Fabry-Perot laser with deeply etched broadband distributed Bragg reflector mirrors. Single-mode operation is achieved by using feedback from an integrated filter. This filter contains an arrayed waveguide grating wavelength router and a semiconductor optical amplifier gate array. Design, simulation, and the first characterization results of this new integrated filtered-feedback tunable laser device are presented. It shows a combination of a simple and robust switching algorithm with good wavelength stability. A rate equation model predicts that a properly designed device can switch within 1 ns. The fast switching and reduced control complexity makes the device very promising for various advanced applications in optical telecommunication networks.