A cable comprising a central member with a coating that is soft, and which deforms under compression. Ribbon stacks are then placed atop the soft material so that the bottoms of the ribbon stacks are in direct contact with the soft material, thereby causing the soft material to conform to the shape of the bottoms of the ribbon stacks.

An optical assembly may include a platform disposed within a housing that has a limited space. The platform may be tilted by a first angle to fit a fiber array into the limited space of the housing. The optical assembly may also include a silicon photonics device mounted on the tilted platform. The silicon photonics device may include a grating coupler. The optical assembly may also include the fiber array directly coupled to the grating coupler on the silicon photonics device at a coupling position that deviates from a vertical coupling position by a second angle.

To provide an optical fiber ribbon whereby a plastic optical fiber can be used in such a state that the tensile strength is good. A plastic optical fiber ribbon 10 characterized in that at least one plastic optical fiber 1 and at least one plastic wire 2 having a Young's modulus of at least 3,000 MPa are arranged so that their central axes are parallel to each other in the same plane, and integrated by a collective coating 3.

To provide a plastic optical fiber ribbon excellent in efficiency for positioning to V grooves. A plastic optical fiber ribbon 10 wherein a plurality of plastic optical fibers 1 are arranged so that their center axes are parallel to one another in the same plane and are integrated by a collective coating 2, wherein at least one outer surface in the thickness direction of the plastic optical fiber ribbon 10 has a mountain-valley shape following the outer surfaces of the plastic optical fibers 1, in which an inclined portion is present where the thickness of the collective coating 2 gradually increases in a direction from the peak 2a of the mountain toward the valley 2b, and in a cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the plastic optical fiber ribbon 10, a central angle θ of the sector formed by connecting an arc from the apex P of the mountain to the starting point Q of the inclined portion and a center of the plastic optical fiber 1 is from 30 to 80°.

Embodiments of the disclosure relate to an optical fiber ribbon. The optical fiber ribbon includes a plurality of subunits each comprising a subunit coating surrounding at least two optical fibers arranged adjacently to each other. The subunit coating is made of a first material. A plurality of bonds are intermittently formed between adjacent subunits of the plurality of subunits. The plurality of bonds are made of a second material. The optical fiber ribbon includes a diffusion zone at an interface between each of the plurality of bonds and the subunit coating of each adjacent subunit. Each diffusion zone has a gradient of the second material in the first material. Further, the intermittent bonds may include one or more saddle surfaces formed by intersecting convex and concave curvatures. A method of forming such optical fiber ribbons is also disclosed.

A highly packed, low bend loss optical cable is provided. The cable includes an outer cable jacket and a plurality of buffer tubes surrounded by the cable jacket. Each buffer tube includes an inner surface defining a channel having a diameter, D1, and an outer surface facing an inner surface of the cable jacket. The cable includes a plural number, N, of optical fibers, located within the channel of each buffer tube and surrounded by the inner surface of the buffer tube. Each optical fiber has an outer diameter, D2. The N optical fibers are densely packed within each buffer tube such that a diameter ratio parameter, Q, is defined as the ratio D1/D2, and is 2.25+0.143(N)≦Ω≦1.14+0.313(N).

An optical communication cable and related method is provided. The cable includes a cable body and a plurality of optical transmission elements surrounded by the cable body. The cable includes a reinforcement layer surrounding the plurality of optical transmission elements and located between the cable body and the plurality of optical transmission elements. The reinforcement layer includes an outer surface and a channel defined in the outer surface that extends in the longitudinal direction along at least a portion of the length of the cable. The cable includes an elongate strength element extending in the longitudinal direction within the channel.

A bend inducing fiber array unit is provided comprising first and second anti-recovery plates and a V-groove chip. Opposing lateral anti-recovery plates are arranged on opposite sides of the first and second anti-recovery plates. Lateral edges on a common side of the anti-recovery plates are secured to a common face of one of the opposing lateral anti-recovery plates to fix the first and second anti-recovery plates relative to each other. A guided portion of the array of optical fibers is positioned in the fiber accommodating grooves of the V-groove chip and the V-groove chip is secured to the second anti-recovery plate such that the fiber accommodating grooves and a fiber guiding face of the first anti-recovery plate are fixed at a relative angle θ approximating the bend in the array of optical fibers.

A single mode optical fiber is provided that includes a core region having an outer radius r.sub.1 and a maximum relative refractive index Δ.sub.1max. The single mode optical fiber further includes a cladding region surrounding the core region, the cladding region includes a depressed-index cladding region, a relative refractive index Δ.sub.3 of the depressed-index cladding region increasing with increased radial position. The single mode optical fiber has a bend loss at 1550 nm for a 15 mm diameter mandrel of less than about 0.75 dB/turn, a bend loss at 1550 nm for a 20 mm diameter mandrel of less than about 0.2 dB/turn, and a bend loss at 1550 nm for a 30 mm diameter mandrel of less than 0.005 dB/turn. Additionally, the single mode optical fiber has a mode field diameter of 9.0 microns or greater at 1310 nm wavelength.

This MCF ensures sufficient manufacturing tolerance, is excellent in mass productivity, and is also capable of suppressing degradation of splice loss. The MCF includes four cores and a common cladding. Each core has adjacent relationships with two cores of remaining cores, an adjacent core interval Λ is from Λ.sub.nominal−0.9 μm to Λ.sub.nominal+0.9 μm, a common cladding diameter is from 124 μm to 126 μm, an MFD, λ.sub.cc and d.sub.coat at a wavelength of 1310 nm satisfy a predetermined relationship, the MFD is from a MFD-reference-value−0.4 μm to the MFD-reference-value+0.4 μm with the MFD-reference-value of from 8.6 μm to 9.2 μm, a zero-dispersion wavelength is from a wavelength-reference-value−12 nm to the wavelength-reference-value+12 nm with the wavelength-reference-value of from 1312 nm to 1340 nm, a dispersion slope at a zero-dispersion wavelength is 0.092 ps/(nm.sup.2.Math.km) or less, λ.sub.cc is 1260 nm or less, and a predetermined structural condition and an optical condition are satisfied.