US Patent 6957004 Passive connectivity of waveguides for optical components

A packaged waveguide for passive connectivity includes waveguides packaged in a ferrule. The ferrule allows the waveguides to be passively aligned to other waveguides, fibers, or optical components, such as to align a first waveguide in the ferrule with a laser diode in a BiDi. In the exemplary embodiment, a second waveguide in the ferrule the BiDi is at a known and fixed distance apart from the first waveguide at an end face of the ferrule. A detector in the BiDi may be positioned so that when the first waveguide is aligned with the laser diode, the second waveguide is also aligned with the detector. Additional functions can be provided with the waveguide. The manufacturing of the BiDi with the waveguides packaged in the ferrule is cost efficient to manufacturer since alignment and connectivity is achieved passively. The cost efficiency can be further improved by using standard components.