Optical connector arrangement

1 . An optical connector arrangement comprising:

a connector component embedded in a substrate material, said embedded connector component including a fibre optic grating optically coupled to a reflector for directing radiation emitted from said fibre optic grating to a surface of said substrate material; and

a surface connector component for collecting radiation emitted from the surface of said substrate material.

2 . The optical connector arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the substrate material is a composite material.

3 . The optical connector arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a plurality of material layers.

4 . The optical connector arrangement of claim 1 , wherein an optical fibre comprising the grating is bonded to the reflector using an index matching material.

5 . The optical connector arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the embedded connector component is potted into a recess in the substrate using an optically transparent material.

6 . The optical connector arrangement of claim 5 , wherein the optically transparent material is formed flush with the surface of said substrate material.

7 . The optical connector arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the reflector has a curved reflecting surface.

8 . The optical connector arrangement of claim 7 , wherein the curved reflecting surface is part of a cylindrical surface.

9 . The optical connector arrangement of claim 7 , wherein the curved reflecting surface has a substantially constant part elliptically shaped or parabolically shaped cross-section along its length.

10 . The optical connector arrangement of claim 9 , wherein an axis of the fibre optic grating lies proximal to a focal point of said part elliptically shaped or parabolically shaped cross-section along at least part of the length of said curved reflecting surface.

11 . The optical connector arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the surface connector component comprises a further optical fibre incorporating a grating for optically co-operating with the fibre optic grating provided in said substrate.

12 . The optical connector arrangement of claim 1 , wherein a grating comprises one or more of: a Bragg grating, a slanted/blazed Bragg grating and a long period grating.

13 . The optical connector arrangement of claim 1 , wherein radiation emitted from the surface of said substrate material is substantially collimated.

14 . An embeddable connector component for embedding in a substrate material and/or for use in a surface connector component, said embeddable connector component including a fibre optic grating optically coupled to a reflector for directing radiation emitted from said fibre optic grating to a surface of a substrate material.

15 . The embeddable connector component of claim 14 , wherein an optical fibre comprising the grating is bonded to the reflector using an index matching material.

16 . The embeddable connector component of claim 14 , wherein the reflector has a curved reflecting surface.

17 . The embeddable connector component of claim 16 , wherein the curved reflecting surface is part of a cylindrical surface.

18 . The embeddable connector component of claim 16 , wherein the curved reflecting surface has a substantially constant part elliptically shaped or parabolically shaped cross-section along its length.

19 . The embeddable connector component of claim 18 , wherein an axis of the fibre optic grating lies proximal to a focal point of said part elliptically shaped or parabolically shaped cross-section along at least part of the length of said curved reflecting surface.

20 . The embeddable connector component of claim 14 , wherein said grating comprises: a Bragg grating, a slanted/blazed Bragg grating or a long period grating.

21 . The embeddable connector component of claim 14 , wherein radiation reflected by said reflector is substantially collimated.

22 . A panel for a vehicle fuselage, component, body or hull, comprising the embeddable connector component according to claim 14 .

23 . An vehicle comprising a composite panel according to claim 22 .

24 . A method of manufacturing a vehicle, comprising incorporating a composite panel according to claim 22 into a vehicle fuselage, component, body or hull.

25 . A surface connector component for use in the optical connector arrangement according to claim 1 .

26 . A method of manufacturing an optical connector arrangement comprising: embedding a connector component in a substrate material, said embedded connector component including a fibre optic grating optically coupled to a reflector for directing radiation emitted from said fibre optic grating to a surface of said substrate material; and providing a surface connector component for collecting radiation emitted from the surface of said substrate material.

27 . The method of claim 26 , wherein the step of embedding the connector component in a substrate material comprises providing a plurality of composite material layers to form a composite material.

28 . The method of claim 27 , wherein each composite material layer comprises respectively aligned material fibres.

29 . The method of claim 28 , further comprising selecting the material fibres from one or more of the following materials: carbon, glass, metal and Kevlar.

30 . The method of claim 26 , comprising potting the connector component into a recess in the substrate material using an optically transparent material.

31 . The method of claim 30 , comprising forming the optically transparent material flush with the surface of said substrate material.

32 . The method of claim 26 , comprising providing the surface connector component with a further optical fibre incorporating a grating.

33 . The method of claim 26 , comprising selecting a grating from one or more of: a Bragg grating, a slanted/blazed Bragg grating and a long period grating.

34 . The method of claim 26 , comprising forming the reflector from a cylindrical tube.

35 . A method of manufacturing an embeddable connector component for use in an optical connector manufactured according to the method of claim 26 , comprising bonding an optical fibre comprising the grating to a reflector using an index matching material.

36 - 40 . (canceled)