Optical fiber connector ferrule assembly having dual reflective surfaces for beam expansion and expanded beam connector incorporating same

1. An expanded beam ferrule, comprising:

a first ferrule halve having at least one first reflective surface;

a second ferrule halve having at least one second reflective surface, wherein the first ferrule halve and the second ferrule halve together retain at least one optical fiber sandwiched therebetween, and wherein the first reflective surface of the first ferrule halve reflects light between the optical fiber and the second reflective surface of the second ferrule halve, and

wherein the second reflective surface reflects light between the first reflective surface and exterior of the expanded beam ferrule.

2. The expanded beam ferrule as in claim 1 , wherein input/output of the ferrule is a collimated light parallel to the mid-plane of the ferrule.

3. The expanded beam ferrule as in claim 1 , wherein the first reflective surface is a convex reflective surface, and the second reflective surface is a concave reflective surface.

4. The expanded beam ferrule as in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second ferrule halves includes at least a groove for receiving the at least one optical fiber, and wherein the groove and corresponding first or second reflective surface are integrally defined on the at least one of the first and second ferrule halves by stamping a malleable metal material.

5. An expanded beam optical connector, comprising:

a first and a second expanded beam ferrule each as in claim 1 ;

an external alignment sleeve aligns external surfaces of the first and second expanded beam ferrules, with corresponding second reflective surfaces of the first and second expanded beam ferrules facing each other,

wherein output light from an optical fiber held in the first expanded beam ferrule is bent twice by the first and second reflective surfaces in the first expanded beam ferrule, with beam divergence after a first bent, and collimation after a second bent, and

wherein a collimated light is transmitted to the facing second reflective surface in the facing second expanded beam ferrule aligned by the sleeve, which is subject to optical reshaping in reverse to that undertaken in the first expanded beam ferrule, so as to converge and focus light to input to an optical fiber held in the second expanded beam ferrule.

6. The expanded beam optical connector as in claim 5 , wherein the first reflective surface is a convex reflective surface, and the second reflective surface is a concave reflective surface.

7. The expanded beam optical connector as in claim 5 , wherein the collimated light between the first and second expanded beam ferrules is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the alignment sleeve.

8. An expanded beam optical connector, comprising:

a first expanded beam ferrule comprising:

a first ferrule halve having at least one first reflective surface;

a second ferrule halve having at least one second reflective surface, wherein the first ferrule halve and the second ferrule halve together retain at least one optical fiber sandwiched therebetween, wherein the first reflective surface of the first ferrule halve reflects light between the optical fiber and the second reflective surface of the second ferrule halve, and wherein the second reflective surface reflects light between the first reflective surface and exterior of the first expanded beam ferrule; and

an external alignment sleeve aligns an external surface of the first expanded beam ferrule.

9. The expanded beam optical connector as in claim 8 , further comprising a second expanded beam ferrule, wherein the external alignment sleeve aligns the external surface of the first expanded beam ferrule to an external surface of the second expanded beam ferrule.

10. The expanded beam optical connector as in claim 9 , wherein the second expanded beam ferrule comprises:

a first ferrule halve having at least one first reflective surface;

a second ferrule halve having at least one second reflective surface, wherein the first ferrule halve and the second ferrule halve together retain at least one optical fiber sandwiched therebetween, wherein the first reflective surface of the first ferrule halve reflects light between the optical fiber and the second reflective surface of the second ferrule halve, and wherein the second reflective surface reflects light between the first reflective surface and exterior of the second expanded beam ferrule,

wherein the external alignment sleeve aligns the external surfaces of the first and second expanded beam ferrules, with corresponding second reflective surfaces of the first and second expanded beam ferrules facing each other.

11. The expanded beam optical connector as in claim 10 , wherein the first reflective surface is a convex reflective surface, and the second reflective surface is a concave reflective surface.

12. The expanded beam optical connector as in claim 10 , wherein:

the light from the optical fiber held in the first expanded beam ferrule is bent twice by a pair of first and second reflective surfaces in the first expanded beam ferrule, with beam divergence after a first bent, and collimation after a second bent, and

a collimated light is transmitted to the facing second reflective surface in the facing second expanded beam ferrule aligned by the sleeve, which is subject to optical reshaping in reverse to that undertaken in the first expanded beam ferrule, so as to converge and focus light to input to a corresponding optical fiber held in the second expanded beam ferrule.

13. The expanded beam optical connector as in claim 12 , wherein the collimated light between the first and second expanded beam ferrules is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the alignment sleeve.

14. An expanded beam optical connector, comprising:

a first expanded beam ferrule, comprising:

a first ferrule halve having at least one first reflective surface;

a second ferrule halve having at least one second reflective surface,

wherein the first ferrule halve and the second ferrule halve together retain at least one first optical fiber sandwiched therebetween, wherein the first reflective surface of the first ferrule halve reflects light between the first optical fiber and the second reflective surface of the second ferrule halve, and wherein the second reflective surface reflects light between the first reflective surface and exterior of the first expanded beam ferrule; and

a second expanded beam ferrule receiving the light reflected by the second reflective surface of the first expanded beam ferrule.

15. The expanded beam optical connector as in claim 14 , wherein the second reflective surface outputs collimated light parallel to the mid-plane of the first expanded beam ferrule.

16. The expanded beam optical connector as in claim 14 , wherein the second expanded beam ferrule comprises:

a third ferrule halve having at least one third reflective surface; and

a fourth ferrule halve having at least one fourth reflective surface,

wherein the third ferrule halve and the fourth ferrule halve together retain at least one second optical fiber sandwiched therebetween, wherein the fourth reflective surface of the fourth ferrule halve reflects the collimated light output from the first expanded beam ferrule to the third reflective surface of the third ferrule halve, and

wherein the third reflective surface of the third ferrule halve reflects incident light from the fourth reflective surface of the fourth ferrule halve to the second optical fiber.

17. The expanded beam optical connector as in claim 16 , wherein the collimated light between the first and second expanded beam ferrules is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the alignment sleeve.

18. The expanded beam optical connector as in claim 16 , wherein the first reflective surface and the third reflective surface are each a convex reflective surface, and the second reflective surface and the fourth reflective surface are each a concave reflective surface.