Milestone-Proposal:Fiber optic connectors

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Docket #:2018-13

This Proposal has been approved, and is now a Milestone

To the proposer’s knowledge, is this achievement subject to litigation? No

Is the achievement you are proposing more than 25 years old? Yes

Is the achievement you are proposing within IEEE’s designated fields as defined by IEEE Bylaw I-104.11, namely: Engineering, Computer Sciences and Information Technology, Physical Sciences, Biological and Medical Sciences, Mathematics, Technical Communications, Education, Management, and Law and Policy. Yes

Did the achievement provide a meaningful benefit for humanity? Yes

Was it of at least regional importance? Yes

Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to pay for the milestone plaque(s)? Yes

Has the IEEE Section(s) in which the plaque(s) will be located agreed to arrange the dedication ceremony? Yes

Has the IEEE Section in which the milestone is located agreed to take responsibility for the plaque after it is dedicated? Yes

Has the owner of the site agreed to have it designated as an IEEE Milestone? Yes

Year or range of years in which the achievement occurred:

1986-1991

Title of the proposed milestone:

Physical Contact Push-Pull Technology for Fiber Optic Connectors, 1986

Plaque citation summarizing the achievement and its significance; if personal name(s) are included, such name(s) must follow the achievement itself in the citation wording: Text absolutely limited by plaque dimensions to 70 words; 60 is preferable for aesthetic reasons.

In 1986, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT) invented the physical contact connection technology that advanced performance and reliability of fiber optic connectors. NTT developed Single-fiber Coupling (SC) and Multifiber Push-On (MPO) connectors; their compactness and simple push-pull operation were major advantages. Widely adopted by carriers and data centers since 1990, this technology facilitated the construction of systems for near light-speed, digital, global communications.

200-250 word abstract describing the significance of the technical achievement being proposed, the person(s) involved, historical context, humanitarian and social impact, as well as any possible controversies the advocate might need to review.

IEEE technical societies and technical councils within whose fields of interest the Milestone proposal resides.

In what IEEE section(s) does it reside?

IEEE Tokyo Section, Japan

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) which have agreed to sponsor the Milestone:

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) paying for milestone plaque(s):

Unit: IEEE Tokyo Section Treasurer
Senior Officer Name: Yukitoshi Sanada

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) arranging the dedication ceremony:

Unit: IEEE Tokyo Section Secretary
Senior Officer Name: Toshihiko Sugie

IEEE section(s) monitoring the plaque(s):

IEEE Section: IEEE Tokyo Section Chair
IEEE Section Chair name: Iwao Sasase

Milestone proposer(s):

Proposer name: Received by administrator
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public

Please note: your email address and contact information will be masked on the website for privacy reasons. Only IEEE History Center Staff will be able to view the email address.

Street address(es) and GPS coordinates in decimal form of the intended milestone plaque site(s):

1-7-1 Hanabatake, Tsukuba-city, Ibaraki 305-0805, JapanLongitude: 140.089468 Latitude: 36.128387

Describe briefly the intended site(s) of the milestone plaque(s). The intended site(s) must have a direct connection with the achievement (e.g. where developed, invented, tested, demonstrated, installed, or operated, etc.). A museum where a device or example of the technology is displayed, or the university where the inventor studied, are not, in themselves, sufficient connection for a milestone plaque.

Please give the address(es) of the plaque site(s) (GPS coordinates if you have them). Also please give the details of the mounting, i.e. on the outside of the building, in the ground floor entrance hall, on a plinth on the grounds, etc. If visitors to the plaque site will need to go through security, or make an appointment, please give the contact information visitors will need. The intended site of the milestone plaque is the research laboratories of NTT Corporation, where the fiber optic connector was developed toward commercialization.

Are the original buildings extant?

Yes.

Details of the plaque mounting:

The mounting is predicted in the ground floor entrance hall.

How is the site protected/secured, and in what ways is it accessible to the public?

The plaque will be freely accessible to the public. During the opening hours, staff in charge is always present. A night watchman is provided as well.

Who is the present owner of the site(s)?

NTT Corporation.

What is the historical significance of the work (its technological, scientific, or social importance)? If personal names are included in citation, include detailed support at the end of this section preceded by "Justification for Inclusion of Name(s)". (see section 6 of Milestone Guidelines)

A fiber optic connector, which makes it possible to connect/disconnect optical fiber, is an indispensable device when constructing optical fiber network systems. The connector connects optical fibers by butt-jointing ferrules that have a high precision hole in which an optical fiber is fixed in place with adhesive. In the history of the development of the fiber optic connector, the physical contact (PC) connection technology invented by NTT has been fundamental in supporting the performance and reliability of the current commercially available fiber optic connectors. Before the PC connection was invented, refractive index matching material was applied to the fiber endface to suppress the Fresnel reflection induced by the air gap between connected fibers. However, if the connection must be performed repeatedly, it is better to eliminate the need for refractive index matching material. To meet this requirement, NTT invented the PC connection where fiber endfaces are brought into direct contact by pressing ferrules together. The PC connection reduces the reflected light power to about 1/1000 of the signal light power at the connection point and achieves a stable loss of less than 0.5 dB without the need for refractive index matching material. Fiber optic connectors can be divided into two types: simplex and multiplex. NTT used PC connection technology to develop an SC connector and an MPO connector as representative simplex and multiplex connectors. The SC and MPO connectors have a push-pull coupling mechanism that makes it possible to connect/disconnect a plug and an adapter by pushing/pulling the coupling sleeve in the insertion/removal direction. The plug cannot be removed from the adapter simply by pulling the optical fiber. On the other hand, the plug can be easily removed from the adapter by pulling the coupling sleeve. Before the push-pull coupling mechanism was invented, the plug was coupled with the adapter by rotating a coupling nut with the fingers. From the 1980s to the 1990s, a connector was required that could realize a high-density connection at low cost for access network systems. Conventional connectors such as the FC and ST connectors did not satisfy these requirements because they need a large space to allow the coupling nut to be rotated with the fingers. The push-pull coupling mechanism enables us to realize high-density connection with superior operability.

What obstacles (technical, political, geographic) needed to be overcome?

In the 1980s, increasing the transmission capacity for optical fiber networks required the development of a less reflective optical connector with smaller loss variation. To meet these performance requirements, with the early connectors refractive index matching material had to be applied to the fiber endface to suppress the Fresnel reflection induced by the air gap between the connected fibers. However, to perform repeated connections, it was desirable to eliminate the use of refractive index matching material for the optical connector.

From the 1980s to the 1990s, the connector was required to realize high-density connection and low cost for access network systems. The FC and ST connectors did not satisfy these requirements because they needed a large space to allow a coupling nut to be rotated with the fingers, and they use an expensive ceramic ferrule. Moreover, a compact multifiber connector for optical fiber cable joints was needed to connect two sets of fiber ribbons together in a confined space such as the closure used for access network systems.

What features set this work apart from similar achievements?

In 1985, NTT completed an optical fiber network over a distance of 2000 km from Hokkaido to Kyushu in Japan. The FC connector developed by NTT in 1979 was used to construct the above-mentioned optical fiber network. In 1985, the ST connector was developed by AT&T. These early connectors required the application of refractive index matching material to the fiber endface to suppress the Fresnel reflection induced by the air gap between the connected fibers. In these connectors, the plug was coupled with the adapter by rotating a coupling nut with the fingers.

In 1986, NTT developed a mechanically transferable (MT) connector for optical fiber cable joints. This was needed to connect two sets of fiber ribbons together in a confined space such as the closure used for access network systems. In the MT connector, the fiber ribbon is inserted into a row of fiber holes between two guide holes and fixed in place with adhesive. The ferrules are aligned by inserting two guide pins into two guide holes. The coupled ferrules are held together with a clamp spring. Refractive index matching material is used between the ferrule endfaces to reduce the Fresnel reflection caused by the air-gap between the connected fibers.

The PC connection enables us to perform the connection repeatedly with excellent optical performance, environmental durability, and operability without the use of refractive index matching material. Most major connectors that have been standardized and are now in practical use employ PC connection technology. The SC connector, which provides the PC connection, has a plastic-molded rectangular housing with a unique push-pull coupling mechanism that makes the connector easy to operate and provides a quad connection density comparable to that of the FC connector. The push-pull mechanism that employs the plastic molded parts helped to reduce the cost of manufacturing the connector. The SC connector share of the worldwide market reached its maximum of 70 % in 1999.

The multifiber push-on (MPO) connector using the PC connection enables us to achieve a high return loss without using refractive index matching material. The MPO connector with a push-pull mechanism also provides ease of operation when connecting or disconnecting multifiber. Only the MPO connector is in widespread use as a standard multifiber PC connector.

Why was the achievement successful and impactful?

Supporting texts and citations to establish the dates, location, and importance of the achievement: Minimum of five (5), but as many as needed to support the milestone, such as patents, contemporary newspaper articles, journal articles, or chapters in scholarly books. 'Scholarly' is defined as peer-reviewed, with references, and published. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. At least one of the references must be from a scholarly book or journal article. All supporting materials must be in English, or accompanied by an English translation.

[1] N. Suzuki, M. Saruwatari, and M. Okuyama, “Low insertion- and high return-loss optical connectors with spherically convex-polished end,” Electron. Lett., vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 110-112, 1986.

[2] E. Sugita, K Iwasa, and T. Shintaku, “Design of High-Performance Push-Pull Coupling Optical Fiber Connector” IEICE Trans. Electron.(Japanese Edition), vol. J70-C, no. 10, pp. 1405-1414, 1987.

[3] E. Sugita, R. Nagase, K. Kanayama, and T. Shintaku, “SC-type single-mode optical fiber connectors,” IEEE J. Lightwave Technol., vol. 7, no. 11, pp. 1689-1696, 1989.

[4] S. Nagasawa, Izumi Sankawa, T. Satake, amd N. Kashima, “Small-Size Push-on Type Optical Fiber Connector,” The Transactions of The IEICE, vol. E70, No. 5, pp. 451-454, 1987.

[5] S. Nagasawa, Y. Yokoyama, F. Ashiya, and T. Satake, “A Sigle-mode Multifiber Push-on connector with Low Insertion- and High Return Losses,” ECOC 1991, MoB1-7, pp. 49-52, 1991.

[6] Japan Patent JPA 1987106419, “Fiber optic connector”.

[7] Japan Patent JPA 1987078507, “Optical connector”.

[8] Japan Patent JPA 1992336509, “Multi-fiber optical connector plug”.

[9] Japan Patent JPA 1993034550, “Multi-fiber optical connector”.

[10] IEC 61754-4, Fibre Optic connector interfaces – Part 4: Type SC connector family

[11] IEC 61754-7-1, Fibre Optic connector interfaces - Part 7-1: Type MPO connector family - One fibre row

[12] IEC 61754-7-2, Fibre Optic connector interfaces - Part 7-2: Type MPO connector family - Two fibre rows

[13] IEC 61755-3-1, Fibre Optic connector optical interfaces – Part 3-1: Optical interface, 2,5 mm and 1,25 mm diameter cylindrical full zirconia PC ferrule, single mode fibre

[14] IEC 61755-3-31, Fibre Optic connector optical interfaces – Part 3-31: Optical interface, 8 degrees angled PC, ployphenylene sulphide rectangular ferrule, single mode fibres

[15] IEC 61755-3-32, Fibre Optic connector optical interfaces – Part 3-32: Optical interface, 8 degrees angled PC, thermoset epoxy rectangular ferrule, single mode fibres

Supporting materials (supported formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG, PDF, DOC): All supporting materials must be in English, or if not in English, accompanied by an English translation. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. For documents that are copyright-encumbered, or which you do not have rights to post, email the documents themselves to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please see the Milestone Program Guidelines for more information.

Please email a jpeg or PDF a letter in English, or with English translation, from the site owner(s) giving permission to place IEEE milestone plaque on the property, and a letter (or forwarded email) from the appropriate Section Chair supporting the Milestone application to ieee-history@ieee.org with the subject line "Attention: Milestone Administrator." Note that there are multiple texts of the letter depending on whether an IEEE organizational unit other than the section will be paying for the plaque(s).

Please recommend reviewers by emailing their names and email addresses to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please include the docket number and brief title of your proposal in the subject line of all emails.