Patent ID: 7043119

Claim:
An optical fiber collimator array, comprising: an optical fiber array block configured to receive and retain a plurality of individual optical fibers which carry optical signals, the optical fiber array block including an angled surface; a microlens array substrate including a plurality of microlenses processed in a lump from the substrate along a microlens surface, the substrate including a substrate surface opposite the microlens surface; a spacer plate coupling the optical fiber array block to the microlens array substrate, the spacer plate including a slanted surface and a back surface opposite the slanted surface, wherein a refractive index of the spacer plate matches a refractive index of at least a part of the microlens array substrate including the microlenses, wherein the slanted surface is coupled to the angled surface and the back surface is coupled to the microlens array substrate, and wherein the angle of the slanted surface of the spacer plate from perpendicular to optical beam axes in the spacer plate is different from an angle of the angled surface of the optical fiber array block from perpendicular to optical axes of the individual optical fibers.