FLEXFOILS HAVING CONNECTOR TABS

摘要

Ends of optical fibers in an optical flexfoil can be located at inner and edge positions of the flexfoil. Cut-outs are formed around such fiber ends to form tabs, which can be bent laterally from the plane of the flexfoil, so that the ends of the fibers are located at the exterior edges of the tabs. This allows a connection of the optical fibers to external devices in different directions such as a connection in a direction perpendicular to the flexfoil. The flexfoil can be used as an optical supplement to an electrical backplane, the tabs extending through openings in the backplane. Also, an easy handling of the flexfoil is achieved, since no connection tabs extending beyond the edges of the flexfoil are required. This is advantageous for example in polishing the ends of the fibers at the tab ends.