The optical fibre ribbon of the present disclosure has one or more base access. The optical fibre ribbon of the present disclosure includes a plurality of optical fibres, a coating layer bonding the plurality of optical fibres, and a slit. The slit in the optical fibre ribbon is made between two optical fibres of the plurality of the optical fibres. The optical fibre ribbon has flat surface on top and corrugated surface in bottom. The optical fibre ribbon has a coating layer that is a layer of matrix material. The coating layer is made of single layer of matrix material.

An intravascular or other 2D or 3D imaging apparatus can include a minimally-invasive distal imaging guidewire portion. A plurality of thin optical fibers can be circumferentially distributed about a cylindrical guidewire core, such as in an spiral-wound or otherwise attached optical fiber ribbon. A low refractive index coating, high numerical aperture (NA) fiber, or other technique can be used to overcome challenges of using extremely thin optical fibers. Coating and ribbonizing techniques are described. Also described are non-uniform refractive index peak amplitudes or wavelengths techniques for FBG writing, using a depressed index optical cladding, chirping, a self-aligned connector, optical fiber routing and alignment techniques for a system connector, and an adapter for connecting to standard optical fiber coupling connectors.

The present disclosure provides a method for stacking of a plurality of optical fibre ribbons (106). The plurality of optical fibre ribbons (106) is defined by a top surface (S1) and a bottom surface (S2). The top surface (S1) and bottom surface (S2) are defined by a plurality of elevated regions and a plurality of groove regions. The method for stacking of the plurality of optical fibre ribbons (106) includes arranging the plurality of optical fibre ribbons (106) over each other such that the plurality of elevated regions of each of the plurality of optical fibre ribbons fits over the plurality of groove regions of an adjacent optical fibre ribbon of the plurality of optical fibre ribbons (106). In addition, arrangement of the plurality of optical fibre ribbons forms an optical fibre ribbon stack (200).

The method provided by the present disclosure is for performing curing during manufacturing of an optical fibre ribbon. The method of the present disclosure performs a first stage of curing and a second stage of curing 200 on a matrix material of the optical fibre ribbon. The first stage of curing is performed using a ribbon die and one or more ultraviolet light emitting diode (UV LED) units. Further, the second stage of curing is performed using a source of the one or more ultraviolet lamps (UV lamps) in an UV chamber.

A machining method for an optical fiber unit, includes: preparing an optical fiber unit in which a first optical fiber ribbon that intermittently connects a first plurality of optical fibers and a second optical fiber ribbon that intermittently connects a second plurality of optical fibers are layered and arranged, the first optical fiber ribbon and the second optical fiber ribbon are intermittently connected in a length direction by interlayer connection parts; opening up a separation part between the first optical fiber ribbon and the second optical fiber ribbon; and breaking the interlayer connection parts by inserting a finger or a division tool into the opened separation part.

The disclosure provides optical fiber cable manufacturing equipment including a collective core portion including a plurality of optical fibers, a metal tape disposed outside the collective core portion, and a sheath portion disposed outside the metal tape, the optical fiber cable manufacturing equipment including: a pre-bonding portion configured to pre-bond the metal tape to the outside of the collective core portion; a first coating portion disposed behind the pre-bonding portion to coat a first adhesive over at least part of both ends of the metal tape; a bonding portion disposed behind the pre-bonding portion to bond the metal tape to the outside of the collective core portion with the both ends of the metal tape overlapping each other; a second coating portion disposed behind the bonding portion to coat a second adhesive over the outside of the metal tape; and a sheath fabrication portion disposed behind the second coating portion to cover the collective core portion to which the metal tape is bonded, with a sheath, wherein an upper portion of the collective core portion to which the metal tape is bonded is heated before the collective core portion to which the metal tape is bonded enters the second coating portion, wherein the second adhesive is coated only over a lower portion of the collected core portion to which the metal tape is bonded in the second coating portion, wherein a melting point of the first adhesive is higher than a melting point of the first adhesive.

In curing a matrix material of a rollable optical fiber ribbon, ultraviolet light may be concentrated in a selected range of wavelengths to avoid further curing the primary coating of each fiber. A ribbon may be made by aligning the fibers, each having at least a primary coating, into a ribbon shape, applying a matrix material in intermittently distributed portions along the ribbon-shaped group of fibers, and exposing the ribbon-shaped group of fibers and applied matrix material to ultraviolet light concentrated in a range of wavelengths absorbed more by the matrix material than by the primary coating.

The present disclosure provides an intermittently bonded optical fibre ribbon. The intermittently bonded optical fibre ribbon includes a plurality of optical fibres. The plurality of optical fibres has bonded regions and un-bonded regions between adjacent optical fibres of the plurality of optical fibres. The bonded regions have a plurality of bonds. Each bonded region has a bond of the plurality of bonds joining the adjacent optical fibres such that the bond does not cover a top optical fibre region and a bottom optical fibre region of the plurality of optical fibres.

A fiber optic assembly is provided including a support substrate having a substantially flat surface and a signal-fiber array supported on the support substrate. The signal-fiber array includes a plurality of optical fibers. At least some of the optical fiber of the plurality of optical fibers includes a first datum contact disposed between the optical fiber and an adjacent optical fiber and each of the optical fibers of the plurality of optical fibers includes a second datum contact disposed between each of the optical fibers of the plurality of optical fibers and the support substrate. A first datum surface is disposed at a top surface of each of the plurality of optical fibers opposite the support surface.

An optical cable includes a plurality of buffer tubes, each of the buffer tubes includes a flexible ribbon, the flexible ribbon including a plurality of optical fibers, the flexible ribbon being wrapped with a finished tape.