Design and performance of very-high-density 60-fiber connectors

High-density, high-count mechanically transferable (MT)-type and multifiber push-on (MPO)-type connectors were constructed by using a monolithic 60-fiber ferrule that aligns five stacked 12-fiber ribbons. The MT- and MPO-type connectors have high packaging densities of 286 and 40 fibers/cm/sup 2/, respectively. We fabricated both types of connector. The average insertion loss of the MT type was 0.30 dB and that of the MPO type 0.70 dB, with and without index-matching material, respectively.