US Patent 7263266 Precision fiber attachment

This invention is directed to a fiber attachment including a hot pad and solder glass that attaches an optical fiber to the hot pad. The attached is formed by positioning the optical fiber over the hot pad and aligning the optical fiber. The optical fiber is then raised and solder glass preforms are positioned on the hot pad. Heat is applied to the glass preforms such that they melt. Once the preforms are melted, the optical fiber is lowered into the molten solder glass. The current is then removed and the solder glass solidifies as it cools to form an attachment between the optical fiber and the hot pad.