Abstract

A connector for splicing optical fiber ribbons has been developed and used to splice an optical cable in the Bell Telephone Laboratories manhole test facility in Atlanta, Georgia. As shown in Figure 1, this type of connector merges the advantages of two technologies by utilizing a mass producible polycarbonate injection molded connector body and cover plate to house a precision preferentially etched silicon chip. The grooves in the chip are used to align individual fibers in one ribbon with their respective mates in a second ribbon.

© 1977 Optical Society of America