Patent ID: 6736550
Filing Date: 2004-05-18
Classification: G02B

Abstract:
A housing for passively aligning a lens with an optical fiber to form a passively aligned lens-fiber assembly, the housing comprising:(a) an annular mating section at a first end of the housing for mating with a second end of an annular ferrule sleeve, the annular mating section having a mating section opening extending axially through the first end of the housing; and (b) a lens-receiving section at a second end of the housing, opposite said first end of the housing, for securely receiving and mounting the lens, the lens-receiving section having a lens-receiving opening extending axially through the second end of the housing and joining with the mating section opening to form an axial through-hole extending through the housing, wherein the fiber has a fiber end section terminating in a light-receiving end; whereby, when (i) the fiber end section is disposed in a ferrule, (ii) the ferrule and light-receiving end of the fiber are disposed in a first end of the ferrule sleeve opposite the second end of the ferrule sleeve, (iii) the mating section is disposed in the second end of the ferrule sleeve, and (iv) the lens is disposed in the lens-receiving section: the lens has a predetermined, fixed position with respect to the light-receiving end of the fiber, thereby forming a passively aligned lens-fiber assembly.