Six-port optical package and method of manufacturing

An apparatus and method of manufacturing multiple-port optical devices and packages includes the steps of positioning pairs of screened optical fibers in a precision ferrule of a collimating assembly; determining a desired angle of incidence (AOI) for an optical element; positioning the assembly in a movable fixture; moving the assembly into engagement with an optical element holder unit having an optical element mounted thereto; micro-tilting the element holder to actively align the optical element and fibers to preferably achieve an insertion loss (IL) less than about 0.2 dB; and curing adhesive to initially secure the aligned optical element assembly.