Patent ID: 8858089

Claim:
An optical fiber cable connector, comprising: a ferrule that is shaped to fit into a connector housing having a keying feature, wherein the ferrule includes a guide hole therethrough, terminating at a ferrule endface, that is shaped to closely receive a multicore fiber having a flat side indicative of the rotational orientation of the cores of the multicore fiber, wherein the ferrule includes a flat surface extending along a side of the guide hole, corresponding in position to the flat side of the multicore fiber, wherein the flat surface within the ferrule body is configured such that installing the ferrule into the housing and installing the multicore fiber into the guide hole with its flat side abutting the flat surface along the side of the guide hole and with a multicore fiber endface proximate to the ferrule endface, provides alignment of the cores with respect to the keying feature of the connector housing, and wherein the ferrule is rotatable within the connector housing to provide alignment of the rotational orientation of the multicore fiber cores.