Integrated optical-to-electrical signal transducing system and apparatus

Claim 1

Integrated optical-to-electrical signal transducing apparatus comprising, in combination: a container including a first wall; an optical fiber terminating plug supporting a plurality of spaced first ends of optical fibers and carried in said first wall, said plug having a terminating surface ground optically smooth and polished in a plane normal to the longitudinal axis of the fibers and including the first ends of the fibers in said surface; an array of photo-sensitive elements supported in said container with said elements opposing respective ones of said spaced ends of said optical fibers, said array comprising a single detector substrate having a first planar surface aligned with and in contact with said plug terminating surface and a thin semiconductor layer vacuum deposited over an area of the detector substrate encompassing the ends of the fibers, selected regions of said layer in respective registration with corresponding ones of said fiber ends being sensitized to form said photo-sensitive elements as light-sensitive barriers to current flow through said regions; preamplifier means carried in said container and coupled to respective ones of said photo-sensitive elements for responding to current through a selected barrier region in response to light at a corresponding fiber end; and means for taking output signals from said preamplifier means.