Design and performance of very high-density multifiber connectors employing monolithic 60-fiber ferrules

High-density high-count mechanically transferable (MT) type and multifiber push-on (MPG) type connectors were constructed by using a monolithic 60-fiber ferrule which aligns five stacked 12-fiber ribbons. The connectors have a high packaging density of 286 fibers/cm/sup 2/ for the MT type and 40 fibers/cm/sup 2/ for the MPO type. We fabricated both types of 60-fiber connector. The average insertion loss of the MT type was 0.20 dB with index-matching and that of the MPO type was 0.70 dB without index-matching.