FABRICATION OF FIBER BUNDLE ARRAYS FOR FREE-SPACE PHOTONIC SWITCHING SYSTEMS

We describe a technique for assembling fiber bundle arrays as needed i n optical computing and photonic switching systems. Two 4x4 arrays wit h single-mode and multimode optical fibers were manufactured. Fiber en ds were located to within 3 mu m of their ideal position and to a poin ting precision of 30 arcmin. A third 4x8 array was manufactured with s ingle-mode fibers, and fiber ends were located to within 1.5 mu m of t heir ideal position.