Design and performance of single-mode plug-in type optical-fiber connectors

A new system of compact single-mode plug-in-type optical-fiber connectors is developed for multiple optical connections between a printed board and a back panel. This new system consists of two types of plug-in connectors: one has two optical plugs/jacks with 64 electrical terminals, and the other has four optical plugs/jacks without electrical terminals. This system utilizes a novel alignment mechanism for plugs and jacks and a novel fiber-core adjustment technology. The performance of assembled plug-in optical-fiber connectors was measured and confirmed to have the following characteristics: insertion losses are less than 0.4 dB and return losses are larger than 28 dB; mechanical tests such as mating, vibration, and shock, and environment tests such as temperature cycling, thermal aging, and high humidity with temperature cycling reveal extremely stable characteristics; and transmission tests using 1.8-Gb/s pseudorandom pulse patterns show low error rates of less than 10/sup -11/.<
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