Multicore Fiber Optic Connector for Wideband Digital and Analog Photonic Links

The goal of this Phase II SBIR technical effort is to design, build and characterize a military grade multicore fiber (MCF) connector that will lead to a mil-spec for the MCF connector for the Navy and the entire US military. This spec will influence MCF connector standards for commercial applications, such as fiber optic sensors, data centers and network applications. This effort will create a specification for MCF connectors where one does not exist today. The new specification for the MCF connector will address physical connection (PC), angled physical connection (APC) and expanded beam versions of the connector design. The new MCF connector is expected to provide low insertion loss, low inter-channel crosstalk and low return loss operating at the 1000 nm and 1550 nm RFoF wavelength bands.