Patent ID: 7515807

Claim:
A fiber optic feedthrough for passing through an aperture in a wall, the fiber optic feedthrough comprising: a housing defining a bore, the housing fitting hermetically into the aperture in the wall; a first collimator configured to receive an output from a first optical fiber located on a first side of the wall, the first collimator sealed within a portion of the bore adjacent to a first end of the bore; and a second collimator configured to provide an input to a second optical fiber located on a second side of the wall, the second collimator sealed within a portion of the bore adjacent to a second end of the bore, the second collimator being optically aligned with the first collimator; wherein a polarization extinction ratio of an optical signal traveling from the first optical fiber through the first and second collimators to the second optical fiber is maintained at a value of at least 12 dB, and a hermeticity of the feedthrough across the wall is better than about 10 −6 atm.cc.sec −1 .