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An integrated mounting assembly has optical fibers supported between a grooved substrate and a clamping substrate, one or both substrates being mounted to a base substrate. The base substrate also provides integrated support for a submount which carries an optoelectronic device, e.g., a laser diode. Optical coupling of the device to the optical fibers is achieved by referencing the submount to the base without need for active optical alignment of the device. Mounting of the integrated optoelectronic assembly in a housing of an optoelectronic package can be made hermetic and electromagnetically shielded.
1. In a holder for a plurality of optical fibers of the type comprising a grooved substrate, a clamping substrate assembled to said grooved substrate for defining parallel channels therebetween, said channels being open at opposite sides of said grooved substrate, said optical fibers being clamped in said channels and terminating in fiber ends on one of said sides, and a lower substrate assembled to said grooved substrate to define therewith pin guides parallel to said channels, the improvement wherein said lower substrate is enlarged to define a base surface, a submount is affixed to said base surface and a laser diode is supported on said submount in substantial optical alignment with said fiber ends.
2. The improvement of claim 1 further comprising reference means for positioning said submount in relation to said base surface so as to achieve substantially precise optical alignment of said laser diode with said fiber ends whereby optical alignment is achieved by positioning said submount on said base without reference to said fiber ends.
3. The improvement of claim 2 wherein said reference means comprise first side means on said submount in register with second side means on said base surface.
4. The improvement of claim 2 wherein said reference means comprise guide pin inserted through said pin guides, said submount being positioned between said guide pins.
5. An integrated mounting assembly for coupling an optoelectronic device to optical fiber, comprising:
a plurality of optical fibers supported between a first substrate grooved to define fiber containing channels open on opposite sides of the grooved substrate and a second substrate assembled to said first substrate for clamping said optical fibers therebetween, a base substrate assembled to said first and said second substrates, said optical fibers in said channels terminating in fiber ends on one of said sides, said base substrate being enlarged to define a base surface, and a submount on said base surface supporting a laser diode in substantial optical alignment with said fiber ends;
reference means configured and adapted for positioning said submount with said laser diode thereon in substantially precise relationship to said base whereby substantially precise optical alignment of the laser diode with said fiber ends is achieved without referencing the laser diode to said fiber ends.
6. The integrated mounting of claim 5 wherein said submount has a metallized undersurface soldered to a metallized upper surface of said base.
7. The integrated mounting of claim 5 wherein said submount is entirely surface metallized, said laser diode has a common electrode soldered to said top surface, and said submount is soldered to a metallized surface of said base.
8. The integrated mounting of claims 5 further comprising at least two power supply electrodes on said upper surface, said laser diode being fixed to said top surface by one or more anode electrodes each soldered directly to a corresponding one of said supply electrodes, said diode having a common cathode electrode wire bonded to another of said supply electrodes.
9. The integrated mounting of claim 5 further comprising at least two power supply electrodes on said upper surface, said laser diode being fixed to said top surface by a common cathode electrode directly soldered to one of said supply electrodes, said diode having one or more anode electrodes each wire bonded to a corresponding one of said supply electrodes.
10. The integrated mounting of claim 5 further comprising optical scrambler means interposed between said laser diode and said fiber ends.
11. The integrated mounting of claim 10 wherein said scrambler means is made of said same material.
12. The integrated mounting of claim 11 wherein said scrambler means is affixed to one or both of said base and said substrate.
13. The integrated mounting of claim 5 wherein said optical fibers also terminate in fiber ends at the other of said opposite sides, and further comprising means on one or both of said base and said substrate engageable by a connector attached to a fiber optic cable for coupling said optical fibers to the fiber optic cable.
14. The assembly of claim 5 wherein said reference means comprise edge means of said submount and said base in registry with each other.
15. The assembly of claim 14 further comprising electrically conductive traces deposited on said submount and soldered to corresponding electrical contacts on said laser diode, said conductive traces being dimensioned, configured and arranged for positioning said laser diode on said submount with sufficient precision for achieving a desired degree of said optical alignment.
16. The assembly of claim 5 wherein said first substrate, said second substrate said base and said submount are made of the same material, said material being characterized by a low coefficient of thermal expansion.
17. The assembly of claim 16 wherein said material is a ceramic.
18. The assembly of claim 16 wherein said material is alumina.
19. The assembly of claim 16 wherein said submount is a rectangular block.
20. A hermetically sealed optoelectronic package comprising:
an enclosure having a plurality of walls including one wall having a mounting hole;
an optoelectronic assembly mounted in said hole, an optical cable having one or more optical fibers terminating in fiber ends clamped between two or more substrates which together constitute an optical fiber holder, said cable extending from an outer side of said holder, one of said substrates also supporting an optoelectronic device optically coupled to said fiber ends on an inner side of said holder; said holder being supported in said hole and joined in a hermetic seal to said one wall with said outer side of said holder exteriorly to said enclosure and said inner side of said holder interiorly to said enclosure.
21. The optoelectronic package of claim 20 comprising seal means between said holder and said one wall.
22. The optoelectronic package of claim 21 wherein said seal means is of electrically conductive material.
23. The optoelectronic package of claim 21 wherein said holder has metallized surfaces and said seal means are of electrically conductive material, whereby said hermetic seal also provides electromagnetic shielding.
24. The optoelectronic package of claim 20 wherein said fiber ends have a circular cross section and are contained in channels of triangular cross section defined between said substrates, void spaces defined in said channels between said triangular cross-section and said circular cross-section, filler material filling said void spaces for hermetically sealing said channels between said inner side and said outer side.
25. The optoelectronic package of claim 24 wherein said channels have interior wall surfaces and said optical fibers each have an outer fiber surface, said wall surfaces and said outer surface being metallized, said filler material comprising metallic solder.
26. A hermetically sealed optoelectronic package comprising:
an optoelectronic package housing having a plurality of walls including one wall having a mounting hole;
an optoelectronic assembly mounted in said hole, an optical cable having one or more optical fibers terminating in fiber ends clamped between two or more substrates which together constitute an optical fiber holder, said cable extending from an outer side of said holder, one of said substrates also supporting an optoelectronic device optically coupled to said fiber ends on an inner side of said holder, said holder having metallized surfaces and electrically conductive seal means between said metallized surfaces and said one wall making a hermetically sealed and electromagnetically shielded mounting of said optoelectronic assembly to said housing.
27. The optoelectronic package of claim 26 wherein said fiber ends are contained in channels defined between said substrates, voids extending the length of said channels between said fibers and said substrates, and filler material filling said voids to seal said channels.
28. The optoelectronic package of claim 27 wherein said filler material is electrically conductive to provide electromagnetic shielding of said housing.
29. A method for assembling a laser diode to an integrated mounting carrying optical fiber, comprising the steps of:
providing an integrated mounting having a base, a substrate on said base, a plurality of parallel channels defined between said base and substrate, said channels being open at opposite front and rear sides of said substrate, optical fibers in said channels terminating in fiber ends on said front side;
positioning a pair of parallel pins in pin guides defined in said base or said substrate on opposite sides of said fiber ends;
providing a submount having a top surface, a bottom and two opposite sides between said top surface and said bottom, the submount being dimensioned between said opposite sides so as to make a close sliding fit between said pins;
fixing a laser diode to said top surface;
positioning said submount with said bottom on said base, said opposite sides between said parallel pins and said laser diode in facing but spaced relation to said fiber;
permanently affixing said submount to said base; and
removing said parallel pins.
30. A method for assembling a laser diode array having a plurality of diode electrodes on one side and a common electrode on another side of the diode array to an integrated mounting carrying optical fiber, comprising the steps of:
providing an integrated mounting having a base, a substrate on said base, a plurality of parallel channels defined between said base and substrate, said channels being open at opposite front and rear sides of said substrate, optical fibers in said channels terminating in fiber ends on said front side;
providing a submount having a top surface including a front edge and a plurality of supply electrodes on said top surface;
positioning said diode array in register with said front edge and with said diode electrodes superposed on said supply electrodes, heating said electrodes to melt solder provided therebetween and allowing said diode array to be brought into precise register with said supply electrodes by surface tension of the molten solder, and cooling said solder to a solid state thereby to fix said diode array at a precise position along said front edge on said substrate; and
affixing said submount to said base with said diode array facing said fiber ends.
31. The method of claim 30 wherein said submount has a pair of opposite sides and said step of affixing said submount comprises:
positioning a pair of parallel pins in pin guides defined in said base or said substrate on opposite sides of said fiber ends, said pins being spaced apart by a distance equal to the dimension of the substrate between said opposite sides;
positioning said submount with said opposite sides in close sliding fit between said parallel pins and said laser diode in facing but spaced relation to said fiber;
permanently affixing said submount to said base; and
removing said parallel pins.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of optoelectronics and more specifically is directed to an integrated assembly for coupling laser diodes or photodetectors to optical fibers.
2. State of the Prior Art
Optical interconnection of electronic data and communication systems is of great interest as it offers use of small, relatively lightweight cable, large transmission capacity, long transmission distance, and immunity to electromagnetic noise, compared with electrical cables using metallic conductors. Potential applications include, but are by no means limited to, telephone transmission lines, subscriber television cable service, and interconnection of subsystems in large computer architectures at different packaging hierarchies, such as chip-to-chip, board-to-board, card-cage to card-cage, and inter-cabinet connections.
Optical fibers are continuous lengths of finely drawn, highly transparent glass material which can transmit light over long distances. Optical fibers must be interfaced to the electronic circuits which generate and process the electrical signals carried by the fibers. At the transmitter end, the electronic circuits drive light emitting semiconductors, such as laser diodes, which produce light pulses fed into the optical fibers. At the receiving end, the light signals carried by the optical fibers are directed onto photodetectors which convert the optical, i.e. light signals to an electrical signal for further processing by electronic receiver circuitry.
Typically, optical fiber transmission lines are made up of bundles of such fibers for carrying parallel data. Data is fed to each optical fiber by a corresponding light emitting element which is electrically modulated such that the light output corresponds to an electrical signal input. The light emitting elements are typically formed on a single semiconductor chip, such as a laser diode array, which may for example have twelve mutually independent laser diode emitters spaced along a line on a common face of the chip. The individual laser diodes of the array are closely spaced to each other and each emits a cone of light. The cones spread out and begin to overlap at a short distance from the laser chip. In order to avoid cross-over and interference between the optical signals, the laser diode emitters must be positioned closely to the end faces of the optical fibers comprising the optical transmission link. The close spacing between the laser diode emitters, coupled with the small diameter of the fiber end faces and even smaller core diameters, requires precise alignment of the diode array in relation to the optical fiber holder, so that a maximum amount of laser light illuminates the corresponding optical fiber core. Misalignment between the laser diode and the fiber core results in wasted laser output and a consequent weakening of the transmitted light signal. Proper alignment of the laser diode array is specially important when single mode optical fibers are employed, due to the very small diameter of the core of such fibers. Multi-mode optical fiber cores are substantially larger in diameter, and alignment of the laser diode array is easier in such case.
For the potential of optoelectronic communication to be fully realized improvement is needed in the packaging of the optoelectronic components, particularly the assemblies used for creating the interface between the electrical and optical portions of the system. In particular, improvement is needed in regard to the mounting of the light emitting and photo detector devices and their coupling to the optical fibers in order to improve the efficiency and reliability of the optoelectronic interconnects, and to reduce the cost of current assemblies which rely on discrete, precision machined components, require costly, labor intensive active alignment, and offer inadequate thermal and mechanical stability.
One type of widely used optical fiber connector, the MT (Mechanically Transferable) type connectors, has an optical fiber holder where the fibers are captive in channels defined between an upper substrate and a lower substrate. Typically, one substrate has a surface traversed by parallel grooves, each groove having a V-shaped cross-section. A flat surface of the other substrate is joined against the grooved surface to define between the two substrates parallel channels of triangular cross-section. A fiber ribbon or cable containing one or more optical fibers is clamped between the two substrates and individual fibers extend from the cable or ribbon within corresponding channels and terminate at a common plane surface defined by the two substrates, the fiber ends being arranged along a straight line formed by the junction of the two substrates. Each optical fiber has a light transmitting core surrounded by a cladding. The diameter of the fiber is normally 125 microns including the cladding. The core diameter is 62.5 microns for multi-mode fibers, and only 10 microns for single mode fibers. The interior dimensions of the triangular channels are held to very close tolerances so that in cross section the cylindrical fibers make tangential contact with the center of each side surface of the channel. The fiber ends as well as the common plane surface of the substrates are highly polished and flat to facilitate close physical contact with a second similar holder for making an optical connection between two lengths of fiberoptic cable. Alignment of the fiber ends between the two connectors is ensured by precisely machined guide pins on one connector mated to equally precise guide holes in the other connector. This type of optical fiber connector is available from NGK of Japan with the two substrates made of ceramic material, and in a precision plastic version from US Conec Ltd., of Hickory, N.C.
Current engineering practice is to mount the light emitting and photo detector elements separately from the optical fiber holder or connector, on a submount which is part of the optoelectronic package containing the transmitter/receiver electronics. The fiber optic connector is mechanically engaged to the housing of the optoelectronic package and is held in alignment with the photo emitter or detector by alignment pins or other mechanical expedient. Such assemblies typically require active alignment, i.e., the laser diode is powered up and adjusted until the light output of the optical fibers is maximized. Prior art optoelectronic couplings and connectors which rely on a combination of structural materials having different coefficients of thermal expansion tend to suffer from thermal instabilities. As different parts of a coupling or connector expand at different rates with temperature changes, the optical alignment between the light emitting device and the optical fibers can be affected, diminishing the power delivered by the light emitting device to the optical fibers and in extreme cases disrupting the optoelectronic link.
What is needed is an optoelectronic coupling with thermally stable and mechanically dependable integrated mounting of the laser diode/photo detector and optical fiber holder on a common base. Past efforts in that direction have produced laboratory prototypes with technologies which have proven prohibitive and impractical for manufacture in commercial quantities. In one such prior effort, a number of parallel grooves were chemically etched in the surface of a silicon base, and optical fibers were laid in the grooves and secured in place with adhesive. The groove depth was such that only the fiber cladding was recessed below the silicon surface and the fiber cores remained above surface. A laser diode array was mounted on the silicon base in alignment for illuminating the end surfaces of the optical fiber cores. Power was supplied to the laser diode through metal film electrodes deposited on the silicone base and connected by wire bonding to corresponding electrodes of the laser diode. This assembly, which performs reasonably well under laboratory conditions, is impractical for commercial applications. Firstly, the chemical etching technology needed to make the precisely dimensioned grooves is very difficult to control, and is an expensive process not suited to commercial production. Further, silicon has a rather large coefficient of thermal expansion, which tends to make the assembly thermally unstable, and lacks adequate mechanical strength for field use in connector applications.
A continuing need exists for a commercially practical and reasonably priced integrated optoelectronic coupler and connector offering good thermal stability, satisfactory mechanical strength and advantageous electrical properties.
The invention disclosed below addresses the aforementioned need by providing an optoelectronic coupler featuring integrated, optically coupled mounting of a laser diode/photodetector and optical fibers. The integrated mounting has a base, an optical fiber holder on the base, a number of parallel channels defined through the holder, optical fibers in the channels terminating in fiber ends on one of the opposite sides, and a laser diode or photodetector unit fixed to an upper surface of the submount and positioned in optically coupled relationship with the fiber ends, characterized in that the optical fiber holder and the laser diode or photodetector are both mounted on a common unitary base, and the base and fiber holder are constructed of the same material. The presently preferred material is a ceramic, such as alumina. Other materials are also suitable, however, such as dimensionally and thermally stable engineering plastics.
The parallel channels of the fiber holder are defined in a plane parallel to and spaced above the upper surface of the base. The laser diode or photodetector may be directly mounted on the base, or may be mounted on a top surface of a submount which is itself mounted to the upper surface of the base. The submount may be a rectangular block permanently affixed to the upper surface of the base, for example by means of a metallized undersurface soldered to a metallized upper surface of said base.
The laser diode or photodetector may consist of multiple devices packaged as an array, in which case the array package may have one common electrode of one polarity and a number of discrete electrodes of opposite polarity. Supply electrode pads can be provided on the substrate by selective metallization of the substrate surface. The array package may be fixed to the submount by soldering the common electrode to a corresponding supply electrode pad on the submount and connecting the discrete electrodes by wire bonding to discrete supply electrode pads on the submount. Alternatively, the discrete electrodes of the array package may be soldered to corresponding electrode pads on the submount, and the common electrode wire bonded to a corresponding supply electrode pad on the submount. In the latter case, bump pad soldering may be used where the surface tension of molten solder between the laser diode and the electrode pads on the submount brings the diode into a prealigned position, such that upon proper assembly of the submount to the base, the laser diode will be correctly aligned with the cores of the optical fibers in the holder. Alternatively, the laser diode can be positioned on the substrate in relation to reference pre-set reference markings. Either of these laser array mounting and positioning methods may be employed where the submount is integral with the base and the array is mounted directly to the base. Whether the submount is a separate element or is integral with the base, it serves to raise the array to a position where the array is in a common plane with the ends of the optical fibers.
The laser diode array mounted to a separate submount can be assembled to the coupler and aligned with the optical fibers with the aid of guide pins positioned by means of pin guides accurately defined in the coupler. A pair of parallel guide pins inserted in the pin guides can be accurately positioned relative to the base and used as a reference for positioning the submount on the base with the laser diode mounted on the submount in optical alignment with the optical fiber ends. The guide pins are removed once the submount and laser diode are assembled to the base. The pin guides may also serve to receive the pins of a male connector in one configuration of the coupler unit.
Still another improvement according to this invention is an optical scrambler unit also integrated with the integrated mounting assembly and interposed between the laser diode and the fiber ends. The scrambler unit is desirably made of the same material as the fiber holder and the base for thermal and mechanical compatibility. The scrambler unit can be constructed analogously to the optical fiber holder, by joining a V-grooved upper substrate to a plane surface of a lower substrate. Alternatively, the scrambler may be a single block of transparent material with integrally formed lens elements. A transparent ceramic may be used for this purpose, and the same ceramic also used for making the optical fiber holder, base and submount components of the integrated holder.
The integrated mounting unit can be connected to a fiber optic cable either by providing a suitable connector at the free end of the optical fibers extending from the holder in a pig tail configuration, or by also terminating the optical fibers at the rear surface of the holder, and providing male or female retainers configured to interlock with a connector of opposite gender at the end of the fiber optic cable, such that the connector normally attached to the tail is also integrated to the coupling unit which then combines the functions of an optoelectronic coupler and connector in one compact and rugged package. Airtight mechanical sealing and EMI shielding of an optoelectronic package are readily possible using such an integrated coupler by metallizing the coupler surfaces and sealing the fiber containing channels.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an integrated optoelectronic coupler according to this invention;
FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the coupler of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a perspective drawing of a laser diode array fixed on a submount for subsequent assembly to the integrated coupler as in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a view as in FIG. 3 but illustrating bump pad mounting of the laser diode array;
FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating the mounting of a photodetector array on a submount for subsequent assembly to an integrated coupler;
FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the integrated coupler of FIG. 1, with submount alignment pins shown in phantom lining;
FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the integrated coupler of FIG. 1 with substrate alignment pins shown in phantom lining and provided with a pig-tail optical fiber connection;
FIG. 8 is a section taken in elevation along line 8--8 in FIG. 6;
FIG. 8a is an enlarged detail view showing the end of an optical fiber contained in a triangular channel of the fiber holder.
FIG. 9 shows in perspective view an integrated coupler equipped with an optical scrambler unit employing V-groove technology and notched to make an integral female connector;
FIG. 10 is a section of the optical scrambler taken along line 10--10 in FIG. 9, showing the use of rod lenses in the scrambler;
FIG. 11a is a perspective view of an alternate optical scrambler unit with integral microlenses;
FIG. 11b is a section along line 11b-11b in FIG. 11a;
FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view of the scrambler unit of FIG. 9;
FIG. 13 is a top plan view of the integrated coupler of FIG. 9 shown connected to a male MTB type optical connector;
FIG. 14 is an exploded view of an integrated optoelectronic coupler adapted for assembly with vertical alignment pins instead of the horizontal pins employed in FIGS. 6 through 8;
FIG. 15 is a top plan view of the coupler of FIG. 14 in assembled condition between the vertical alignment pins.
With reference to the drawings in which like numerals designate similar elements, FIG. 1 shows an integrated optoelectronic coupler 10 which has a rectangular base 12 and an optical fiber holder 14 which includes a V-groove substrate 16 and a fiber clamping substrate 18, the assembly of which is better understood by reference to FIGS. 2 and 8. The upper, grooved substrate 16 has a number of parallel grooves 20 which extend fully across the upper substrate 16 between a front side 22 and a rear side 24. The upper substrate 16 also defines two parallel pin guide slots 26 with the upper surface 28 of the base 12. A laser diode array 30 is fixed to the top surface 33 of a submount 32 which in turn is fixed to the upper surface 28 of the base 12.
Each groove 20 has a V-shaped cross-section, with two side walls in the groove at a 60 degree angle to each other. When the upper substrate 16 is assembled to the base 12, the top surface 34 of the lower substrate 18 covers the grooves 20, which then form parallel channels 36 of triangular cross-section extending between the opposite sides 22, 24 of the upper substrate 16. Each channel has an equilateral triangular cross-section such that a cylindrical optical fiber 40 laid within each groove 20 touches the center of each side wall of the triangular channels, making line contact with each side wall along the length of the channel. Each fiber 40 is thus closely contained in a straight line between the upper substrate 16 and lower substrate 18 which together form an optical fiber holder assembly. The optical fibers 40 extend from a fiber ribbon 38 clamped between the holder substrates 16 and 18. Each fiber 40 terminates at a fiber end face 68 which is polished flat with the front surface 22 of the V-grooved substrate 16.
The upper substrate 16 and lower substrate 18 are made to very close tolerances by precision machining, as exemplified by the high precision ceramic optical multi-fiber connectors sold by NGK of Japan, through their U.S. distributors NGK-Locke, Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif. The NGK ceramic components features V-grooved substrates for supporting optical fibers in multi-fiber connectors and related assemblies. The existing NGK ceramic holders for optical fibers have a lower substrate or base which is of equal width as the width of the upper substrate 16 between its opposite sides 22, 24. It is the improvement of the present invention to extend the base 12 beyond the front side 22 of the upper substrate 16, also support the submount 32 on a common base 12 with the V-grooved substrate 16, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
The mounting of the laser diode 30 and submount 32 is better shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.
Turning to FIG. 3, the laser diode array 30 has a number light emitting, lasing semiconductor junctions spaced along an active surface 44. Each lasing junction can be powered to emit a cone 46 of cohering light, only two of which are shown in the drawing. Each lasing junction has a corresponding electrode 48 in the form of a metallic pad deposited on the top side of the diode array. A common electrode on the hidden underside of the diode array 30 is soldered to and in electrical contact with a supply electrode 50 formed by surface metallization of the submount 32. Each of the discrete electrodes 48 is connected by wire bonding 52 to a respective supply electrode pads 54 on the substrate surface 33. Electrical power is supplied by a suitable contact arrangement, not shown in the drawings, to the electrode pads 50, 54 for powering the diode array 30.
FIG. 4 shows an alternate mounting of the laser diode 30 to the substrate 32 by the so called "flip-chip" or bump pad mounting. The diode array 30 is turned over and the discrete electrode pads 48 are directly bonded by soldering to corresponding supply electrodes 54' deposited on the submount surface 33. The common electrode 56, now on the top side of the laser diode 30, is wire bonded at 58 to a corresponding supply electrode 50'. The substrate 32, with the laser diode array 30 premounted on its top surface 33, is then bonded to the upper surface 28 of the common base 12, to make up the integrated optoelectronic coupler 10.
The integrated coupler 10 provides an interface and transition between an electronic circuit where signals are carried by metallic conductors, to an optical transmission line made up of one or more optical fibers. In the integrated coupler 10 of this invention, alignment of the laser diode array 30 is accomplished by first referencing the position of the array 30 to the submount 32, and then referencing the position of the submount to the V-grooved upper substrate 16. Existing manufacturing technology, in particular as implemented by the NGK company mentioned earlier, permits the manufacture of the upper substrate 16 with a high degree of dimensional accuracy.
According to the present invention, the submount 32 is likewise machined to close tolerances. The diode array 30 is mounted to the submount 30 at a known location, normally the center, between two opposite sides of the submount, specifically between side 56 and its opposite side 58. The precise positioning of the laser array 30 in FIG. 3 is accomplished by positioning the array 30 between reference markings 60a and 60b which are accurately placed on the submount 32 by measurement relative to the sides 56, 58. In addition, the active face 44 of the diode array is aligned against the front edge 62 of the submount. This positioning of the diode array 30 on the submount 32 is done on a heated stage of an assembly microscope which melts solder preapplied to the supply electrode 50 and on the common electrode on the underside of the diode array 30. While heated, the solder remains fluid and allows the diode array 30 to be accurately positioned between the reference markings 60a, 60b and against the submount edge 62. Once properly positioned, the solder is allowed to cool, or is actively cooled by a cooling system on the microscope stage, thereby fixing the diode array device to the substrate 32.
FIG. 4 shows an alternate approach for accurately referencing the diode array 30 in relation to the opposite sides 56, 58 of the submount 32. The supply electrode pads 54' are precisely positioned on the submount surface 33 by means of a photolithographic process in relation to the sides 56, 58. The discrete electrode pads 48 of the diode array 30 are dimensioned to match the width of the supply electrodes pads 54'. The submount 32 is placed on a heated assembly stage, with the diode array 30 positioned so that the discrete electrode pads 48 each overlie a corresponding supply electrode pad 54'. Preapplied solder on pads 48, 54' melts under the heating, creating a fluid film between the overlying pads 48, 54'. The molten solder exhibits substantial surface tension which tends to pull the diode array 30 into alignment with the submount pads 54', thereby correctly positioning the diode array 30 with reference to the sides 56, 58. The diode array 30 is also manually aligned against the front edge 62 of the submount 32, as explained in connection with FIG. 3. The use of surface tension of the molten solder to align a semiconductor chip on a substrate provided with contact pads is known in the industry as "bump pad" mounting, and is known technique.
Once the diode array 30 is positioned with reference to the submount 32, the submount 32 is then mounted to the base 12 in alignment with the V-grooved substrate 16 with the aid of parallel guide pins 64 inserted through the pin guides 26. The two guide pins 64 are precisely dimensioned cylindrical pins which make a close sliding fit in the pin guide 26. The rear ends 66 of the guide pins may be fixed in a suitable holder (not shown in the drawings) which support the guide pins in mutually parallel and precisely spaced apart relationship, matching the spacing between the pin guide 26. The guide pins 64 are inserted through the pin guide 26 as shown in FIGS. 6 through 8, and rest upon the upper surface 28 of the base 12.
The submount 32 with the laser diode array 30 premounted to it, is then assembled to the base 12. The submount 32 is placed on the base surface 28 between the guide pins 64. The width of the submount between its opposite surfaces 56, 58 is precisely matched, during its manufacture, to the spacing between the guide pins 64. The submount 32 therefore fits precisely between the two pins 64 on the base surface 28, thereby positioning the laser diodes of the array 30 in optical alignment with the end faces 68 of the optical fibers 40.
It should be appreciated that the integrated optoelectronic coupler 10 avoids the need for active alignment of the laser diode array 30 to the optical fibers 40, by using precise manufacturing and machining methods currently known and practiced in the industry in combination with novel coupler structures and assembly procedures.
The gap spacing between the active, light emitting face 44 of the laser diode array and the end faces 40 of the optical fibers is fixed by the width dimension of the substrate 32 measured between its front edge 62 and rear edge 70, the latter being aligned with the rear side 72 of the base 12.
The preferred material for use in making the submount 32 is the same material used for the V-grooved substrate 16 and the base 12. As previously explained, optical fibers 40 are currently commercially marketed by the aforementioned NGK Company which have an upper substrate 16 machined as needed for use in the present invention, and include a base portion which differs from the base 12 in the drawings only in that it terminates flush with the front surface 22 of the substrate 16. The present invention improves over the sate of the art by providing a common base for supporting the laser array as well as the fiber holder. In particular the substrate 16 and the submount 32 are mounted on a common extended base 12 which has been enlarged to accommodate the submount 32.
The same ceramic materials as presently used in the NGK optical fiber holders and connectors, such as but not limited to alumina, are presently preferred for making the structural components 16, 12 and 32 of the integrated optoelectronic coupler 10 of this invention. These elements are permanently bonded together by means of a suitable adhesive, or by soldering together of metallized surfaces on each of the base, substrate 16 and submount 32. The submount 32 has been described as a separate element from the base 12, but can also be made integrally with the base, eliminating the need for precise positioning of the submount relative to the base. The laser array can then be mounted directly to the integral submount by any of the procedures just described for its mounting to the separate submount.
It will be appreciated that the integrated coupler 10 offers homogeneity of structural materials, thereby avoiding the thermal instabilities inherent in previous optoelectronic couplers and connectors. In addition, the use of ceramic throughout the structure of the coupler 10 assures a high degree of mechanical strength and dimensional stability due to the advantageous mechanical properties of ceramic materials. The result is a compact and rugged optoelectronic coupler which may be expected to perform dependably in commercial applications and which can be manufactured, assembled and aligned economically in commercial quantities. In particular, the need for active alignment of the coupler is eliminated, thereby substantially reducing the cost of manufacture.
The integrated coupler 10 of this invention is equally suitable for use with an optoelectronic receiving package by substituting a photodetector for the laser diode array 30. Turning to FIG. 5, a photodetector array 74 is fixed to a front surface 76 of a photodetector submount 78. The photodetector array 74 is fixed by soldering a common electrode on the hidden underside of the array chip to the metallized surface 82 of the submount 78, which metallized surface also serves as a supply electrode of one polarity. Power of the opposite polarity is supplied by supply electrodes 84 formed on the submount 78 and wire bonded to corresponding individual electrodes 86 for each photodetector element of the array. The alignment of the photodetector array 74 relative to optical fibers 40 on the integrated coupler 10 is obtained in a manner analogous to that described for the laser diode array 30 in FIG. 3. In general, however, the alignment of photodetectors is less difficult and less critical than for laser diode arrays. Consequently, the detector array 74 can be positioned on the submount 78 by reference to preset markings or features on the submount, such as the electrode pads 84, and metallization edge 88. The dimension between opposite sides 90 and 92 is closely matched to the spacing between the guide pins 64 in FIGS. 6 through 8, and submount 78 is assembled to the base 12 of the coupler 10 in the manner previously described in connection with the submount 32 of the laser diode array.
Turning to FIG. 9, an integrated optoelectronic coupler 10' is shown which differs from the coupler 10 of FIGS. 1 through 8 in that an optical scrambler unit 100 has been interposed between the laser diode array 30 and the end faces 68 of the optical fibers held by the V-grooved substrate 16. The scrambler unit is made up of two elements, as shown in FIG. 12, an upper V-grooved substrate 102 and a lower substrate 104 which are joined together as shown in the phantom lined and solid lined depictions of the scrambler unit 100 in FIG. 9. The two substrates 102, 104 define between them a number of passages each having a triangular cross-section which matches the triangular cross-section of the channels containing the optical fibers between the lower substrate 18 and upper substrate 16 of the coupler. Furthermore, the scrambler is manufactured by the same methods and using the same materials as for the V-grooved substrate 16. For example, the upper substrate 102 of the scrambler can be obtained by simply slicing a V-grooved substrate 16, thereby precisely matching the triangular channels of the fiber holder assembly, while the lower substrate 104 can be simply a rectangular block of the same material. The assembled scrambler unit 100 can be aligned with the triangular channels containing the optical fibers by inserting guide segments of optical fiber or rigid pins of the same diameter as the fibers through the triangular channels 106 of the scrambler unit and into the triangular channels of the optical fiber holder, i.e. between the upper substrate 16 and lower substrate 18. In the alternative, the scrambler unit 102 can also be aligned by means of the same guide pins 64, shown in FIGS. 6 through 8, passing through pin guide passages of the scrambler unit analogous to the pin guides 26 of the upper substrate 16 in FIGS. 1 and 2. Again, in such a case, the upper substrate 102 of scrambler unit can be a slice taken from a V-grooved substrate 16, including the pin guide portions of that substrate.
The scrambler unit 100 may be installed in the coupler 10' with the passages 106 simply open to the light emitted by the laser array 30, in which case the scrambling effect occurs by multiple reflections of the laser light from the internal surfaces of the triangular passages 106. Alternatively, each triangular passage 106 may be fitted within optical element such as a rod lenses 108 which is of cylindrical cross-section and fits in the triangular passage 106 in a manner analogous to the optical fibers 40 in the triangular channels 36. As a result, alignment of the rod lenses 108 with a corresponding optical fiber 40 is assured.
FIG. 11 shows yet another alternative scrambler unit 110 which differs from the previously described scrambler units 100 and 100' in that it is made of a single block 110 of transparent ceramic, in which are integrally formed concave microlenses 114. The scrambler unit block 112 is machined to precise dimensions so that optical alignment of the microlenses 114 with corresponding optical fibers 40 can be obtained by positioning the scrambler 110 on the base surface 28 and then simply aligning, for example, a side 116 of the block 112 with a side 17 of the V-grooved substrate 16. The microlenses 114 can be made in different configurations and are not limited to the concave lens shown in FIG. 11. For example, the microlenses 114 can be convex lenses on a planar surface of the block 112.
By making the scrambler, in any of its three versions 100, 100' and 110, of the same material as the other structural components of the coupler 10', namely, the V-grooved substrate 16, the base 12 and submount 32, a high degree of thermal stability can be achieved. Furthermore, by physically integrating the scrambler into the already integrated coupler 10', a high degree of mechanical strength and stability can also be achieved, for superior performance of the assembly. Furthermore, this superior performance is obtained at lower manufacturing cost than for equivalent units made by previous methods.
The integrated coupler 10' of FIG. 9 is further provided with a pair of notches 120, each of which traverses a side surface of the V-grooved substrate 16 and base 12 and is parallel to the rear surface 24 of the substrate 16. The notches 120 are configured as female detents engageable by corresponding male fingers 122 of a conventional MTB type connector 130, as shown in FIG. 13. The MTB connector 130 includes an MT type connector 132 mounted inside a shell 134. The MT connector 132 has a pair of alignment pins 136, only one of which is shown in FIG. 13, which fit into corresponding holes 144 in the rear face 24' of the coupler 10'. The MT connector holds a number of optical fibers 138 which extend from a fiber ribbon 140. The optical fibers 138 terminate at a connector face 142 which makes close contact with the rear surface 24' of the integrated coupler 10'. The optical fibers 40 held in the coupler 10' terminate in end faces which are flushed with the rear surface 24' and are in optical alignment with corresponding fibers 138 of the connector 130 when the fingers 122 of the connector engage in the grooves 120. This arrangement further integrates the coupler 10' by incorporating a connector function into the body of the coupler, eliminating the need for a separate connector at the end of a pig-tail ribbon 38 as shown in FIG. 7.
FIGS. 14 and 15 illustrate an alternate method for assembling an integrated coupler 10" according to this invention. A V-grooved upper substrate 16' is mounted on a lower substrate 18' to define channels of triangular cross-section for holding optical fibers as described in connection with the coupler 10 of FIGS. 1 and 2. The lower substrate 18' is mounted on a base 12'. A laser diode array 30 is mounted on a submount 32' as has been described in connection with FIGS. 3 and 4. The submount 32' has notches 150a which align with notches 150b in the base 12'. Notches 150a and 150b are best made by a single pass of a coupling blade, to assure their exact alignment. The position of the submount 32' is referenced to the base 12' with the aid of a pair of parallel guide pins 160, mounted to a suitable holder (not shown in the drawings) to assure exact spacing between the pins, are used to assemble the submount 32' to the base 12'. The pins 160 fit closely within the notches 150a and 150b bring the notches into exact registry with each other. The precise dimensioning of the submount then assures that the laser array will be coupled to the optical fibers. The submount is then permanently fixed to the base, preferably by soldering together of metallized contacting surfaces. This method of assembly assures precise positioning of the submount 32' in two dimensions relative to the base 12', i.e. the two dimensions of the upper surface 28' of the base 12. This method is better suited for commercial production, as it requires a lesser degree of skill by the assembly workers than the configuration of coupler 10 in FIGS. 1 and 2. The coupler 10, however, makes use of existing and commercially available V-grooved substrate 16 and thus requires a lesser degree of retooling.
The various structural components of the integrated coupler, in all the embodiments described above, can be permanently assembled by metallizing some or all surfaces of the components and soldering together contacting surfaces. Metallization of the surfaces of the integrated coupler is especially advantageous when the integrated coupler is mounted in a mounting hole formed in the housing of an optoelectronic package. In that case the metallized surfaces when electrically connected to the housing provide shielding against entry of electromagnetic noise and interference through the mounting hole into the package. FIG. 13 shows the integrated coupler 10' mounted in hole 172 of an optoelectronic package housing 170. A gasket 174 provides a hermetic seal between the coupler 10' and the housing 170. An electrical connection between metallized surfaces of the coupler 10' and the housing 170' may also be provided by selecting an electrically conductive gasket material, or by any other convenient means. A fully sealed coupler mounting is made by filling the interior spaces 35 in the triangular channels of the optical fiber holder between the circular cross-section of the optical fiber 40 and the triangular cross-section of the channels, seen in FIG. 8a. This is accomplished by metallizing the interior surfaces of the triangular channel as well as the cylindrical surface of the fibers 40, and flowing molten solder into the void spaces 35.
While certain preferred embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated for purposes of clarity and example, it must be understood that many changes, substitutions, and modifications to the described embodiments will become obvious to those possessed of ordinary skill in the art without thereby departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention which is defined by the following claims.
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Touring with diabetes - any suggestions?
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My wife has Type I and we have not had any issues. We have gone to AZ over thanksgiving and nor worries. She is now on the pump and it is even easier. My advice is pay close attention to you blood sugar, but don't worry to much. If you really are worried or want to keep track of it get a continuous gluclose monitor and that will really let you know what is going on.
Always, always, always keep some backup syringes on hand! Never rely on the pump 100% because it will eventually leave her high and dry. I HAD an Animas 1250 that failed multiple times (5 returns in 3 years). If you have a syringe handy you can draw insulin from the pump until you can get her taken care of properly. In a pinch, Walmart sells their own brand of R and N that can be had without a script (needles too!)(scripts are not required by law for R and N, but the pharmacy itself might not dispense w/out one.. Walmart will), which could be very handy if you're 1000 miles from home and the pump quits. Just talk to her doc to find out how to dose with alternate forms of insulin. (Hopefully you guys are ahead of me on this, but if not then maybe I can save you some greif.)
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|Have a Great 4th! - the LANDCRAWLER
New on the Market
28 +/- Acres, Clay County, Alabama
Under Contract
Under Contract
Hunting Seasons Right Around the Corner!
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*** Will divide - click to see options - land only 93 acres or 92.5 acres with house. ***
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Only $169,000 asking price for this location and improvements!
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Very Unique Home Estate Lot Opportunity - Lake Allatoona Retreat
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If you have any neat trail camera or harvest pics we can publish here, please email to firstname.lastname@example.com
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Land Improvements
Don Ellers aka "the LANDCRAWLER" shares some land improvement tips picked up over the years as a landowner and land broker...
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Base types, Collections, Diagnostics, IO, RegEx…
For the .NET 3.5 release, the BCL team has been trying to solve some problems related to dates, times and time zones that customers having been asking us to address for some time. We've invested in two significant features:
DateTimeOffset is a completely new DateTime type that stores the UTC Offset in addition to the DateTime. In presenting the design of this type, there are a couple of questions that keep coming up that we would like to address. The full rationale behind these provisional decisions requires going back through some of the history of DateTime over the last 8 years.
In .NET 3.5 there will be a new DateTime type called DateTimeOffset. The name of this type is an interesting topic in itself, but current plans are that this new type will complement rather than fully replace the existing DateTime type, and thus it will not be called DateTime2. A couple of questions keep coming up about this which I will address in this post by covering some relevant history:
It is necessary to start with the original rationale and design issues surrounding the original DateTime type.
The original DateTime type was mostly designed in 1998-1999, as part of the the new .NET Platform type system. Up until that time, almost all platforms (e.g. Win32, C, VB, COM, databases) represented dates and times with a combined date and time type that had no time zone information. The time zone context was outside the type's data and in the application's context, in the same way that using Decimal to represent money involves the context of the currency unit living outside the Decimal instance. The option of a DateTime with a UTC offset or a time zone ID was discussed and there was a lot of design back and forth. There was a lot of desire to keep the type system simple, and while a time zone aware DateTime was better at representing absolute points in time such as a file time-stamp, it got awkward when doing certain things:
Another factor was that many prior platforms had lived with DateTime types like this without running into serious issues. In the end, the desire to keep the platform simple won out, and the DateTime was a date and a time and nothing else, although support for conversion between local and UTC was provided using the machine's local time zone.
Once this was shipped, a number of serious problems became clear:
In V2.0, when the severity of these issues was fully understood, design began on a solution. There was actually a fully developed specification to address the above issues by adding a UTC offset to the existing DateTime type. This was going to be a challenging operation since this was a significant change to what the type was. The only way to keep a reasonable compatibility guarantee was to make the time zone offset optional. However, this proposed change simply did not stand up to design scrutiny and implementation trials, and we discovered that our options of changing the existing type were significantly more limited than we had hoped. Here were some of the problems that emerged:
This was a difficult situation. It was extremely undesirable to leave every existing API taking DateTime and accepting or returning local instances with unreliable behavior around DST transitions. But a comprehensive change to DateTime was not possible in a compatible way either. It was decided to do a very minimal change to DateTime by using some unused bits in the structure to indicate if an instance was UTC or Local, and using an extra state to disambiguate the hour repeated during DST transition to solve the reliability problem. The DateTime.Kind property was introduced to solve the reliability problem without doing a full deprecation of usage of the type. However, it was not a comprehensive solution because to maintain compatibility, the Kind could only be very minimally used in existing APIs. It was decided that we would try to make it possible for existing APIs to use the Kind, but make any behavior changes on DateTime itself opt-in as much as possible. Thus the Kind is used in the critical conversions to and from Local and UTC, but not when DateTime instances are compared or formatted by default.
Even this minimal change presented significant compatibility challenges. An example of this was DateTime.ToString. If the instance was marked with DateTimeKind.Utc, it would makes sense to output its time zone offset as "+00:00" instead of pulling in the machine's local time which only makes sense for local instances. At one point the code actually did this more correct behavior. However, we found that a significant number of users of DateTime were taking a dependency on this incorrect behavior and were broken by this change. They were serializing UTC instances in XML, and because it defaulted to formatting as a local time and because Parse converted back to the local time zone by default, their code was working most of the time, even though the persisted string would have been incorrect if parsed by a 3rd party system. To maintain compatibility even this change had to be backed out, and correct formatting of the time zone offset had to be made opt-in via the new "o" and "K" format options.
The DateTimeKind solved the most pressing issues with DateTime, but still left the space with a lot of unresolved issues. It was still very difficult to use correctly, and it could not deal well with the server scenarios where instances from different machines in different time zones needed to be handled.
So, this should address the first question of why we are not currently pursuing further the option of adding an optional offset to the existing DateTime type.
After .NET 2.0 it became clear that there was still considerable demand for a type with DateTime and a UTC offset combined. This is the type we are delivering in .NET 3.5 (DateTimeOffset). The second question then comes up as to why we are planning to a new type that complements DateTime instead of creating a complete replacement and calling it DateTime2. It is definitely compelling to have a single new type so that there does not have to be complex guidance around which of the types to use for what scenarios.
Even with compatibility taken out of the picture a lot of the reasoning above still makes it compelling to have new type that is always absolute. First, consider the landscape of date and time related scenarios:
(Scenarios C-D might be even better handled by dedicated Date and Time types. These options are still on the table, although they will not be in the .NET 3.5 release).
The existing DateTime can do scenarios A-E. But it does a mediocre job of E, because you have to convert it to and from UTC and Local depending on whether you want human-readable display or accurate arithmetic. For scenario F, you need to store an additional field to make it work. The proposed new DateTime with UTC offset is significantly better for scenario E and enables scenarios F with a single type instance. However, it is not as good for scenarios A-D where it would have to default to some arbitrary time zone offset. As a point of reference, the majority of DateTime scenarios involve E, although A and C are fairly common also, and F becomes more important when richer Time Zone support is available.
It is possible to create a new type that addresses scenarios A-D as well by making the UTC Offset optional rather than required. But this creates a lot of the same problems encountered during the aborted attempt to create such a type in .NET 2.0:
An interesting question that is always useful to ask about a design is: Given what we know now, what would we do differently if we could start again?
It would be hard to get broad consensus on this point. My personal opinion is that the date and time space is too complicated to address with a single type. If I could start again, I would have something like the V1.0 DateTime, but have a separate DateTimeOffset type also. The main difference to where we will land with the current plan of record is that we would not need the DateTimeKind that was added to DateTime in V2.0. This was really a band-aid that would not have been needed if a DateTimeOffset had been available in V1. That being said, my own opinion is that the DateTimeKind solution was critical to salvage reliable usage of the existing APIs given that there was no better type to use in V1.0.
Great, insightful post about a difficult subject.
Andrew McCallum is right that Java had similar problems with their Date-Class. But worse they did it wrong the second time with the ugly Calendar class, I've never seen such an unintuitive Date-API. Luckily they started JSR 310 and I really hope they will integrate most of the design of the great Joda-Library.
Despite your well argued point, this is still looks like a nasty hack.
What do we do with a restless trader in Singapore executing a trade through a London app online to the NASDAQ in New York, and need to ensure we execute the trade within the Quote time.. what we need is a UTCDateTime from end-to-end that is only converted to local-time when we need to display it..
Universal Time is a Universal Standard!
Exactly my point, Stephen Channell.
While we can work with DateTimeOffset up to a point, it will need to be converted to a DateTime to work with existing APIs in the framework. It will be difficult if not impossible to avoid that conversion, which invites an opportunity for error and hence bugs.
What we really need is a UtcDateTime that *is a* DateTime. That may not be possible for technical reasons (value type), but if an IDateTime interface were to be introduced and all framework signatures were updated to use the interface, both backward compatibility could be preserved and those needing a UtcDateTime would be free to use it without need for conversion. It would integrate well with the framework, too.
I'd have to support chronos and Stephen Channell in that DateTimeOffset seems like a non-solution to the problem.
UTCDateTime is an intuitive concept and IDateTime would solve compatibility issues for future revisions.
I must agree with chronos, Stephen Channel, and Morten Mertner. DateTimeOffset is not a solution to the real problem. Backward compatibility can be preserved with the addition of an IDateTime interface while also providing a path towards a real solution: UtcDateTime, which would implement IDateTime.
Based on the feedback from my last CLR week ,
I think one CLR week a year is about right,
Welcome to
CLR Week: A new annual tradition.
Have you ever had to deal with consumer and provider of webservices residing in different time zones
皆さん、こんにちは 前回お約束した通り、少しずつではありますがTechEdでのDEMOのフォローをしていきたいと思います。 今回は.NET Framework 3.5 で改善された TimeZone への対応について紹介したいと思います。今回、ご紹介するのは
皆さん、こんにちは 前回お約束した通り、少しずつではありますがTechEdでのDEMOのフォローをしていきたいと思います。 今回は.NET Framework 3.5 で改善された TimeZone への対応について紹介したいと思います
Celexa and aalcohol. Celexa and provigil. Celexa poids. Celexa and birthcontrol.
This is the first of three postings I'm writing to follow up on the MSDN Events sessions I delivered


text:
The Little Paw
Stacey Forman | Posted 03.05.2013 | Parents
Read More: Limb Differences, Parenting, Acceptance, Teasing, Bullying, Body Image, Wonder, Self-Esteem, Protecting Your Child, New York City, Parents-Moms, Parents News
Knowing tough moments will become more often in the future is difficult, but for now, I'm focusing on the present. I'm enjoying the innocence.
The Talk isn't a one-shot deal -- it's an ongoing conversation that you work into daily life in small ways.


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Distance Medley Relay Races to School Record in Boston
Wildcats run school record time of 9:27.04 at David Hemery Valentine Invitational
Solis and Messick Register Personal Best Times at Hurricane Alumni Invitational
Villanova competed in six events at Saturday's meet
Basili Wins Heat of Steeplechase After Mid-Race Fall at Colonial Relays
Villanova junior continued race and made final jumps after being injured during the race
Denault Becomes 35th Member of Wildcats Sub-4:00 Club
Redshirt freshman runs 3:59.39 in Mile at Alex Wilson Invitational
Wildcats Claim Three Titles on Final Day of Conference Meet, Finish Fourth in Team Standings
FitzSimons, McEntee and Denault all won individual conference titles on Sunday afternoon
Men's Track & Field at Metro Team Challenge
Villanova competed in the Metro Team Challenge at New York Armory on January 23, 2015.
On Urschel: Has great promise in the sprints both individually and in the relays ... Has been a BIG EAST champion in the 4x400 meter relay outdoors and the distance medley relay indoors ... Overall is a four-time All-BIG EAST performer in the relays ... Top individual event is the 400 meters ... Part of a talented sprint group who should continue moving forward during the coming year ... Should once again be a consistent contributor to the team at the conference meets.
2014-15 Indoor: First team All-American in the distance medley relay ... Ran the 400 meters leg of the DMR at the NCAA Championships and produced a split of 48.36 ... Villanova finished in fifth place in the relay with a time of 9:32.96 and earned first team All-America honors ... Part of a school record performance in the DMR at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational, where the Wildcats had a time of 9:27.04 ... Had a split of 47.84 on the 400 meters leg of that relay ... The time of 9:27.04 set a new school record and, at the time of the race, led the nation for the season and ranked third in NCAA history ... Earned All-BIG EAST honors in the 4x400 meter relay at the BIG EAST Championships ... Anchored the relay to a third place finish and a time of 3:19.73, including his split of 49.28 on the anchor leg ... Individual scorer in both the 60 meters and the 200 meters at the conference meet ... Tallied sixth place finishes in each event ... Recorded a time of 7.15 in the final of the 60 meters after being fourth overall with a personal best time of 7.05 in the preliminary heats ... Also finished sixth in the 200 meters in 22.50 after a time of 22.38 in the preliminaries ... Won his preliminary heat to automatically move on to the final ... Ran the 400 meters leg of the DMR at the Metro Team Challenge and the Penn State National ... Villanova finished third in the Penn State with a time of 9:31.36 ... That time was the third-best in the country at the time of the race ... Recorded a time of 7.12 in the 60 meters at the Penn State National ... Finished sixth in the 60 meters at the Jack Pyrah Invitational ... His time of 22.12 in the 200 meters at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational was the fastest indoor time of his collegiate career ... Runner-up in the 300 meters at the Jack Pyrah meet ... Also ran the second leg of the 4x400 meter relay at the season-opening Pyrah competition ... Villanova came in second in the 4x400 relay at that meet with a time of 3:25.96.
2014 Outdoor: Led off both the 4x100 meter relay and the 4x400 meter relay at the BIG EAST Championships ... Helped Villanova win the conference title in the 4x400 relay and also earn All-BIG EAST honors with a runner-up finish in the 4x100 meter relay ... The winning time in the 4x400 relay was a season-best time of 3:12.17, while the 4x100 relay squad posted a time of 42.64 ... Also finished fourth in the 400 meters individually at the conference meet ... Registered a season-best time of 48.73 in the final of the 400 meters ... Crossed the finish line in 48.99 in the preliminary heats to finish third in his heat and sixth overall in the preliminaries ... Also led off the 4x400 relay at the IC4A Championship, where Villanova came in 14th in the preliminaries with a time of 3:14.04 ... Competed in both the 200 meters and the 400 meters at the Colonial Relays ... Placed 33rd in in the 200 meters with a time of 22.90 and finished 17th in the 400 meters (49.57) ... Ran the second leg of the 4x400 relay at the Penn Relays, where Villanova came in fourth in its heat and 37th overall in the preliminaries (3:16.11).
2013-14 Indoor: Scored team points at the BIG EAST Championships in both the 400 meters and the 4x400 meter relay ... Finished sixth in the finals of the 400 meters at the conference meet with a time of 49.67 ... Also registered a time of 49.63 in the preliminary heats, when he was in seventh place in the field ... Led off the 4x400 relay in a fourth place finish for Villanova, which posted a time of 3:20.69 in the relay ... Opened the season by winning the 300 meters and finishing fifth in the 60 meters at the Jack Pyrah Invitational ... Registered a winning time of 35.47 in the 300 meters and a personal best mark of 7.15 in the 60 meters ... Also anchored the 4x400 relay to a first place finish and a winning time of 3:21.03 at the Jack Pyrah meet ... At the Gotham Cup ran the third leg of the 4x400 relay in a sixth place finish (3:18.84) ... Finished 43rd in the 400 meters (51.43) and anchored the 4x400 relay squad to a seventh place finish (3:20.27) at the Great Dane Classic.
2013 Outdoor: Anchored the Wildcats 4x400 meter relay to an All-BIG EAST performance at the conference championships, where Villanova came in third with a time of 3:12.77 ... Was also the anchor of the 4x400 relay at the Penn Relays, where the Wildcats posted a time of 3:12.38 and finished fifth in the IC4A section of the race ... A day earlier had run the third leg of the relay in the preliminary heats as Villanova came in 25th overall with a time of 3:13.65 ... Qualified for the BIG EAST Championships individually in the 400 meters and recorded a time of 50.71 at the league meet ... Came in fifth in the 400 meters (48.83) and anchored the 4x400 meter relay squad to a first place finish (3:12.03) at the Hurricane Alumni Invitational ... Opened the season at the Colonial Relays, where he placed 13th in the 400 meters (49.60), 20th in the 200 meters (22.43) and led off the 4x400 relay in a fifth place finish (3:17.58).
2012-13 Indoor: Competed on the Wildcats distance medley relay and 4x400 meter relay at the BIG EAST Championships ... Ran the 400 meters leg of the DMR and helped Villanova win a conference title with a winning time of 9:47.59 ... Led off the 4x400 relay and the Wildcats came in fourth in 3:13.22 ... Competed individually in the 200 meters at the BIG EAST meet and came in fifth in his preliminary heat with a time of 22.27 ... Ran two other races in the 200 meters, finishing ninth at the Penn State National (22.36) and 30th at the Great Dane Classic (22.73) ... Placed 19th out of 107 runners in the College section of the 400 meters at the Armory Collegiate Invitational, posting a time of 49.27 ... Came in 28th in the 400 meters at the Alex Wilson Invitational (48.74) ... Made his collegiate debut at the Jack Pyrah Invitational, where he was the runner-up in both the 60 meters (7.17) and the 300 meters (35.70) ... Competed in the 60 meters at the New York City Gotham Cup and finished in a tie for 24th place (7.14) out of 95 runners.
East Brunswick High School: Earned varsity letters in indoor track, outdoor track and football ... All-American at the 2011 New Balance Nationals ... 2012 Indoor Track Middlesex County Sprinter of the Year ... Named to the New Jersey All-State team and also received all-conference honors ... Earned honorable mention All-Middlesex County honors in football in 2011 for a team that was a Group 4 state champion, sectional champion and conference champion ... Recipient of the Ironman Award ... Achieved Honor Roll status academically.
Personal: Born 11/23/93 ... Second of five children of Thomas and DonnaLee Urschel ... Siblings are Thoams, Lee, Theresa and Nickolas ... Brother, Thomas, also attends Villanova and is majoring in Electrical Engineering ... Enrolled in the Villanova School of Business and is majoring in Accounting with a minor in Finance.
55 Meter Hurdles 6.56 High School 60 Meters 7.05 2015 BIG EAST Championships 100 Meters 10.78 High School 200 Meters 22.00 High School 400 Meters 48.33 High School
CAREER AWARDS (Indoor Track)
All-American (First Team) 2015 (Distance Medley Relay)
BIG EAST Champion 2013 (Distance Medley Relay) All-BIG EAST 2013 (Distance Medley Relay)
All-BIG EAST 2015 (4x400 Meter Relay)
CAREER AWARDS (Outdoor Track)
BIG EAST Champion 2014 (4x400 Meter Relay) All-BIG EAST 2014, 2015 (4x100 Meter Relay) All-BIG EAST 2013, 2014 (4x400 Meter Relay)
CAREER AWARDS (Academics)
BIG EAST All-Academic Team 2012-13, 2013-14
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Top Art Exhibits For Kids In Connecticut
Most art museums are just too quiet, too formal and too stuffy for kids. Connecticut, however, has many museums where children are not only welcome but also encouraged to play, make noise and even make their own art.
2014 Connecticut Fall Theater Preview
From centuries-old classics to 2014 premieres, these are the best shows worth attending this autumn.
5 Office Changes That Increase Your Success At Work
Learn how to become more successful at work with these 5 simple tips from Thalma Lobel, author of "Sensation: The New Science of Physical Intelligence."
Top Museum Tours In Connecticut
Whether the museum-goer wants to travel to the colonial era, walk in the footsteps of dinosaurs, view a great art collection or march about the battlements of a castle, here are just five of the top museums in Connecticut that offer tours to their visitors.
Top Science Exhibits In Connecticut
From fossilized dinosaur tracks to explorations of Mars, and a lot in between, there are museums and other centers in the state that will intrigue as well as teach visitors about the wonders of science.
Best Book Club Picks For August
Wine and friends are two undeniable pleasures of a good book club, but a book that inspires passion and debate is the true heart of the occasion.
Connecticut's Most Interesting Churches
Of the hundreds of churches in the state, these really stand out.
How To Get Involved In Connecticut's Theater Community
Whether it's your local theater or the great theaters that bear the names of some treasured Connecticut icons such as Katharine Hepburn or Eugene O'Neill, you don't have to travel far to become part of the dynamic theater community.
8 Sports You Didn't Know Were Sports
People have lots of imagination and even more free time. Here are 8 sports you didn't even know were sports.
Top Upcoming Children's Shows In Connecticut
Movies, computers, tablets and television are all well and good, but there is nothing that can compare to seeing live actors on stage. Here are just five of the upcoming children's shows parents should check out.
Photo Galleries
Summer may have most of the blockbusters, but there are also a number of highly anticipated movies coming to theaters this spring. We take a look at the must-see films of the season.


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Taneytown Bed and Breakfasts
Showing results 1-14 of 14
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B&Bs in Taneytown
from $165
Antrim 1844 Country House HotelTaneytown, MD
Within city limits
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Inn at Herr RidgeGettysburg, PA
An 1815 National Register B&B offering Fine Dining, Banquet Facilities, Taverns, and the ...Read more


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1970 Harley-Davidson Sportster XLH MotoeXotica is pleased to announce our latest addition, a very original and low mileage 1970 Harley-Davidson XLH with the awesome boat... More
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This Custom built 1990 1200CC Harley Davidson is for sale in Louisville KY showroom. This completely one off Harley was put together with... More
Built by John Shope, this one-off custom bagger called "Atomic Leprechaun" was the first 30" front wheel street glide built by John Shope. Features... More
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For sale in our Chicago showroom is this 2008 Harley-Davidson Rocker C. The Rocker C is part of a seven-model Harley-Davidson Softail line... More


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Welcome to The Savoy Gastronomes website, we hope you enjoy the changing face of the Savoy's Front Hall over the decades.
It fills us with a lot of pride to announce that one of our Gastronomes, Paula McMinn currently at the
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As ever, if you have any news or would like to perhaps pose a question to the committee or membership, then do please let us know via email@example.com.
Best wishes,
The Committee


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NUORDER: The B2B provider's agenda for Agenda.
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Details on Industry Insight.
Billabong made its big announcement Tuesday in Australia, saying that it has struck a multi-pronged deal with Altamont Capital Partners to help the company out of its financial turmoil.
The deal includes:
* The sale of DaKine to Altamont for A$70 million, and DaKine will be run as a separate company
* Well-regarded former Oakley and Nike executive Scott Olivet will become the new CEO
* A variety of financing measures including A$325 million bridge loan, a minimum of a A$221 million term loan, convertible note of A$44 million, and an asset-based revolving loan of A$177 million
* The proceeds from the sale of DaKine and the bridge loan, which total A$395 million, will be used to pay down A$289 million in debt now owned by US hedge funds and A$106 million will be used for working capital requirements.
* Two Altamont executives will join the board of directors
* If Altamont eventually exercises all of its options and converts all of its shares attached to the deal, it could potentially own 36.2% to 40.49% of Billabong equity.
* Shareholders must approve several aspects of the deal.
The Billabong Board of Directors approved the deal unanimously, including current CEO Launa Inman, who also sits on the board.
I understand that she will be working very closely with Olivet on the transition and believes that his experience is a great fit for Billabong.
The deal contains many components and is complicated. Below is the official press release.
Press Release:
GOLD COAST, 16 July, 2013: On 9 May 2013, Billabong International Limited ("Billabong" or the "Company") announced that it was in discussions with each of Altamont Capital Partners ("Altamont") and Sycamore Partners regarding proposals presented to the Company for alternative refinancing and asset sale transactions, the proceeds of which would be used to repay in full the Company's existing syndicated debt facilities ("Refinancing"). Billabong today provides an update in relation to the proposed Refinancing.
The Company today announces it has entered into agreements with entities advised by Altamont and entities sub-advised by GSO Capital Partners1 (the credit arm of the Blackstone Group, and together with Altamont, the "Altamont Consortium") which will allow Billabong to immediately repay in full its existing syndicated debt facilities. The Company has also entered into commitment letters with the Altamont Consortium and GE Capital to provide a long term financing package for Billabong.
The immediate refinancing will be by way of a bridge financing by the Altamont Consortium of the Company's existing syndicated debt facilities and the sale of the DaKine brand. The long term financing will be by way of an Altamont Consortium term loan and convertible note, and a revolving credit facility provided by GE Capital. This financing package is intended to provide Billabong with a flexible capital structure to allow it to stabilise the business, address its cost structure, and pursue a strategy to grow the business.
As a condition precedent to this significant investment by the Altamont Consortium, the Board of Billabong today announces that it intends to appoint Mr. Scott Olivet as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Billabong.
In order to further adequately reflect Altamont's significant investment in the Company, Altamont will be permitted to nominate two representatives to the Board of Billabong.
"The Board believes that the Altamont Consortium's refinancing, and the changes being announced today, provide the Company with a stable platform and the necessary working capital to continue to address the challenges it faces. We had highlighted the Company's debt issues previously and it was imperative to deliver a refinancing that retained an opportunity for shareholders to participate in the future of the Company. The Altamont Consortium presented the best available, certain and executable opportunity in these challenging circumstances," said Billabong Chairman Ian Pollard. "The transaction reflects the Altamont Consortium's confidence in the value of Billabong's brands and our Company's ability to achieve future profitable growth."
See Page 2 for more of the refinancing details


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A useful "sign in" interface mockup, with form fields, buttons, and options to connect with Facebook or Twitter.Posted in Interface → Web App
A stunningly beautiful website designed around the concept of a survival kit for a designer. I love the interactive elements and the bold use of colour and imagery to draw you in!Posted in Web Design → Misc
A flat interpretation of an iPhone 5 mockup, with three views shown — front, back, and side profile. It's a really gorgeous little piece of design, and a good way to showcase your own app or website screenshot within a slightly different graphic.Posted in Interface → iPhone App
WanChai is a responsive one page portfolio MODX theme built on Bootstrap 3 with a clean and modern design. It features a filterable portfolio section with expanded preview and on-scroll CSS3 animations.Posted in Web Design → Portfolio
Mooza is a clean and free PSD email template, crafted with attention to details, the PSD file is fully-layered, well-named and easy to modify.Med IjjaPosted in Web Design → Design
This set includes 16 handcrafted flat vector icons. These icons are filled with character and can be easily edited and altered in anyway you want.Michael ReimerPosted in Interface → Element
Provided as a PSD, and a fully coded CSS/HTML version, this tab interface widget combines some subtle colour variations, and simple rounded corners, to create a lovely interface style.Posted in Interface → Element
UI Kit. Minimal, clean web interface.Abhimanyu RanaPosted in Interface → Web App
We make and sell Dot Grid Books for UI Designers & Illustrators.Prakash GhodkePosted in Web Design → Design
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Icons created for services and payment solutions offered to government offices. I love the way colour is used in executing clever ideas.Posted in Interface → Element
A striking leaf design that would work fantastically as a logo mark. I really like the simple shadow.Posted in Branding → Logo
Image & Code is a San Diego web design and internet marketing agency. We provide web services such as web design, web development, custom application development Search engine marketing campaigns, WordPress sites and all that is the web.Idan KadoshPosted in Web Design → Design
A very minimal icon that uses a simple shape to create a distinct look.Posted in Interface → Element
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Trend is a premium WordPress theme that combines modern flat design and very flexible backend functionality based on GT3 page builder plugin.Posted in Web Design → Design