V-groove adapters for interconnecting optical conductors, and methods for making same

摘要

A V-groove adapter (20) for interconnecting optical conductors (46,48) includes V-grooves (22,24) that are precisely aligned with respect to one another to provide a desired alignment of the respective cores (50,52) of the optical conductors (46,48) received within the respective V-grooves (22,24). By controlling the widths of the respective V-grooves (22,24) and the axial alignment of the V-grooves (22,24) with respect to one another, the cores (50,52) of the optical conductors (46,48) received within the respective V-grooves (22,24) can be coaxially aligned or offset by predetermined distance with repeatable precision on the order of 1 mu m. The V-grooves (106,108) are initially fabricated in a monocrystalline material (104). A metal layer is formed over the V-grooves (106,108) in order to form an inversa replica of the V-grooves (106,108) which is used as an insert in an injection mold so that the V-groove adapters (20) can be mass produced using injection molding techniques.