Patent ID: 9482814
Filing Date: 2016-11-01
CPC Classification: C03B,G02B

Claim Text:
1. A multicore optical fiber comprising a plurality of cores and a cladding surrounding each of the plurality of cores, wherein an outer peripheral shape of the cladding in a cross section perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the multicore optical fiber is comprised of a circumferential portion forming a circumference coincident with an outer periphery of the multicore optical fiber in the cross section, and a first cut portion, wherein in the cross section defining the outer peripheral shape of the cladding, the first cut portion has a bottom portion and two contact portions provided on both sides of the bottom portion, each of the two contact portions projects in a direction away from the plurality of cores more than the bottom portion, and a minimum value a_min of core-core distance and a minimum distance d_min between the plurality of cores and the circumferential ortion of the claddin satisf the following two conditions: d_min≦a_min; and d_min/a_min≧0.3, and wherein the two contact portions have respective flattened faces, when a side face of the multicore optical fiber is viewed from a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, and the flattened faces of the two contact portions extend along the longitudinal direction with the bottom portion in between.