William Roger Lambert

Silicone Optical Attenuators

Lucent Technologies manufactures and markets a family of SC and ST singlemode optical attenuator products which are low cost and easy to use. The attenuator elements are available in the attenuation range of 3 to 20 dB and are housed in buildout barrels which snap into companion buildout blocks to form complete optical couplings. The attenuator element is a 0.086-inch diameter thermoplastic material which, depending upon the attenuation level, has a thickness from 0.006 to 0.065 inches. In order to meet the full range of customer performance requirements, the attenuator element should not creep at temperatures up to 80°C and exhibit a reflection of less than -55 dB at optical telecommunication wavelengths. Commercially available thermoplastic materials cannot meet these requirements.