Mr. Evert Ebraert Profile

Evert Ebraert

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Publications (6)

SPIE Journal Paper | 17 October 2016

Deep proton writing with 12 MeV protons for rapid prototyping of microstructures in polymethylmethacrylate

Evert Ebraert, Berkcan Gökçe, Sandra Van Vlierberghe, Michael Vervaeke, Pascal Meyer, Markus Guttmann, Peter Dubruel, Hugo Thienpont, Jürgen Van Erps

JM3, Vol. 15, Issue 04, 044501, (October 2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.10.1117/1.JMM.15.4.044501

KEYWORDS: Polymethylmethacrylate, Rapid manufacturing, Surface roughness, Prototyping, Photomasks, Nickel, Optical alignment, Single mode fibers, Connectors, Etching

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SPIE Journal Paper | 22 July 2016

Hot-embossing replication of self-centering optical fiber alignment structures prototyped by deep proton writing

Evert Ebraert, Markus Wissmann, Markus Guttmann, Alexander Kolew, Matthias Worgull, Nicole Barié, Marc Schneider, Andreas Hofmann, Stefano Beri, Jan Watté, Hugo Thienpont, Jürgen Van Erps

OE, Vol. 55, Issue 07, 076112, (July 2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.10.1117/1.OE.55.7.076112

KEYWORDS: Polymethylmethacrylate, Prototyping, Connectors, Optical alignment, Optical fibers, Silicon, Single mode fibers, Surface roughness, Structured optical fibers, Micro cutting

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Proceedings Article | 27 April 2016 Paper

Replication of self-centering optical fiber alignment structures using hot embossing

Evert Ebraert, Markus Wissmann, Nicole Barié, Markus Guttmann, Marc Schneider, Alexander Kolew, Matthias Worgull, Stefano Beri, Jan Watté, Hugo Thienpont, Jürgen Van Erps

Proceedings Volume 9888, 98880M (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2227685

KEYWORDS: Connectors, Electroplating, Single mode fibers, Connectors, Nickel, Surface roughness, Adhesives, Copper

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With the demand for broadband connectivity on the rise due to various services like video-on-demand and cloud computing becoming more popular, the need for better connectivity infrastructure is high. The only future- proof option to supply this infrastructure is to deploy "fiber to the home" (FTTH) networks. One of the main difficulties with the deployment of FTTH is the vast amount of single-mode fiber (SMF) connections that need to be made. Hence there is a strong need for components which enable high performance, robust and easy-to- use SMF connectors. Since large-scale deployment is the goal, these components should be mass-producible at low cost. We discuss a rapid prototyping process on the basis of hot embossing replication of a self-centering alignment system (SCAS) based on three micro-springs, which can position a SMF independently of its diameter. This is beneficial since there is a fabrication tolerance of up to ±1 μm on a standard G.652 SMF's diameter that can lead to losses if the outer diameter is used as a reference for alignment. The SCAS is first prototyped with deep proton writing (DPW) in polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) after which it is glued to a copper substrate with an adhesive. Using an electroforming process, a nickel block is grown over the PMMA prototype followed by mechanical finishing to fabricate a structured nickel mould insert. Even though the mould insert shows non- ideal and rounded features it is used to create PMMA replicas of the SCAS by means of hot embossing. The SCAS possesses a central opening in which a bare SMF can be clamped, which is designed with a diameter of 121 μm. PMMA replicas are dimensionally characterized using a multisensor coordinate measurement machine and show a central opening diameter of 128.3 ± 2.8 μm. This should be compared to the central opening diameter of the DPW prototype used for mould formation which was measured to be 120.5 μm. This shows that the electroforming and subsequent replication process is possible for complex micro-scale components and could be accurate after optimisation. We characterized the sidewall roughness of PMMA replicas using a non- contact optical profiler, resulting in a root-mean-square roughness of 48 nm over an area of 63.7 μm×47.8 μm. This low sidewall roughness is especially important in the replication of high aspect ratio structures to facilitate demoulding since the sidewalls cause the most friction with the mould insert.

SPIE Journal Paper | 6 October 2014

Optomechanical design of a buckling cavity in a low-cost high-performance ferruleless field-installable single-mode fiber connector

Evert Ebraert, Jürgen Van Erps, Stefano Beri, Jan Watté, Hugo Thienpont

OE, Vol. 53, Issue 10, 106102, (October 2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.10.1117/1.OE.53.10.106102

KEYWORDS: Single mode fibers, Optical fibers, Connectors, Cladding, Finite element methods, Optomechanical design, Fiber to the x, Silica, Refractive index, Optical engineering

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Proceedings Article | 2 May 2014 Paper

Opto-mechanical design of a buckling cavity in a novel high-performance outside-plant robust field installable single-mode fibre connector

Evert Ebraert, Jürgen Van Erps, Stefano Beri, Jan Watté, Hugo Thienpont

Proceedings Volume 9130, 91300L (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2052222

KEYWORDS: Single mode fibers, Connectors, Cladding, Fiber to the x, Finite element methods, Refractive index, Silica, Optomechanical design, Shape analysis, Tolerancing

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Proceedings Article | 2 May 2014 Paper

Self-centering fiber alignment structures for high-precision field installable single-mode fiber connectors

Jürgen Van Erps, Evert Ebraert, Fei Gao, Michael Vervaeke, Francis Berghmans, Stefano Beri, Jan Watté, Hugo Thienpont

Proceedings Volume 9130, 91300K (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2051332

KEYWORDS: Optical alignment, Connectors, Structured optical fibers, Internet, Fiber to the x, Prototyping, Cladding, Polymethylmethacrylate, Etching, Finite element methods

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There is a steady increase in the demand for internet bandwidth, primarily driven by cloud services and high-definition video streaming. Europe's Digital Agenda states the ambitious objective that by 2020 all Europeans should have access to internet at speeds of 30Mb/s or above, with 50% or more of households subscribing to connections of 100Mb/s. Today however, internet access in Europe is mainly based on the first generation of broadband, meaning internet accessed over legacy telephone copper and TV cable networks. In recent years, Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) networks have been adopted as a replacement of traditional electrical connections for the `last mile' transmission of information at bandwidths over 1Gb/s. However, FTTH penetration is still very low (< 5%) in most major Western economies. The main reason for this is the high deployment cost of FTTH networks. Indeed, the success and adoption of optical access networks critically depend on the quality and reliability of connections between optical fibers. In particular a further reduction of insertion loss of field- installable connectors must be achieved without a significant increase in component cost. This requires precise alignment of fibers that can differ in terms of ellipticity, eccentricity or diameter and seems hardly achievable using today's widespread ferrule-based alignment systems. In this paper, we present a field-installable connector based on deflectable/compressible spring structures, providing a self-centering functionality for the fiber. This way, it can accommodate for possible fiber cladding diameter variations (the tolerance on the cladding diameter of G.652 fiber is typically ±0.7μm). The mechanical properties of the cantilever are derived through an analytical approximation and a mathematical model of the spring constant, and finite element-based simulations are carried out to find the maximum first principal stress as well as the stress distribution distribution in the fiber alignment structure. Elastic constants of the order of 104N=m are found to be compatible with a proof stress of 70 M Pa. We show the successful prototyping of 3-spring fiber alignment structures using deep proton writing and investigate their compatibility with replication techniques such as hot embossing and injection moulding. Fiber insertion in our self-centering alignment structures is achieved by means of a dedicated interferometric setup allowing assessment of the fiber facet quality, of the fiber's position in relation to the connector's front and of the spring deformation during fiber insertion. These self-centering structures have the potential to become the basic building blocks for a new generation of field-installable connectors, ultimately breaking the current paradigm of ferrule-based connectivity requiring extensive pre-engineering and highly specialized manpower for field deployment.

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