Testing in the manufacture, operation, and maintenance of optical device assemblies

Abstract

To facilitate testing in the manufacture, operation, and maintenance of substrate-supported assemblies such as, e.g., optical transmitters and receivers in subscriber-loop and local-area networks, an assembly is provided with built-in optical test features at selected test points. Preferred test features may include side-by-side couplers or reflector taps as may serve to extract or insert light into a substrate-supported waveguide. Testing may further involve the use of a test set having optical components in alignment with test features of an assembly.