Disclosure of Invention
In view of the above, the object of the present invention is: an integrated mode multiplexing optical chip is provided to solve the problem that an optical multiplexer cannot be installed in a narrow space.
To achieve one or a part or all of the above or other objects, the present invention provides an integrated mode multiplexing optical chip, including: a prism made of light-transmitting material; the prism has:
an entrance face disposed on a first side of the prism,
a phase plate surface arranged on one side of the prism opposite to the incident surface, and provided with a plurality of mode conversion structures extending along the length direction of the phase plate surface for forming light beams of different modes,
and the reflecting surface is arranged on the second side of the prism, is parallel to the incident surface and is used for enabling the light beams with the multiple modes to be emitted out of the prism.
Optionally, the mode conversion structure is etched on the phase plate surface.
Optionally, an optical reflection increasing film is arranged on the phase plate surface and/or the reflecting surface.
Optionally, the refractive index of the prism is greater than the refractive index of air.
Optionally, the incident surface and/or the exit surface have an inclination angle with the end surface of the prism.
Optionally, the entrance face and the exit face are disposed at opposite corners of the prism.
Optionally, the prism is formed by combining a plurality of light-transmitting blocks.
Optionally, the plurality of light-transmitting block bodies are bonded to each other to form an integral structure.
Optionally, the optical path lengths between adjacent mode conversion structures are equal.
Optionally, the prism is one of glass, silicon, resin and light-transmitting plastic; alternatively, the prism has one or a combination of glass, resin, silicon, and optical plastic layers.
The implementation of the invention has the following beneficial effects:
the prism is made of light-transmitting materials, the phase plate is arranged on the first side of the prism, the mode conversion structures are arranged on the phase plate, light beams transmitted in the prism are converted into light beams with multiple modes, and the incident surface and the emergent surface of the prism are parallel to each other, so that mode multiplexing of light is realized.
Detailed Description
The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
It should be noted that if directional indications (such as according to the upper, lower, left, right, front and rear … …) are involved in the embodiment of the present invention, the directional indications are only used to explain the relative positional relationship, movement, etc. of the components in a specific posture (according to the figure), and if the specific posture is changed, the directional indications are changed accordingly.
In addition, if there is a description of "first", "second", etc. in an embodiment of the present invention, the description of "first", "second", etc. is for descriptive purposes only and is not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In addition, technical solutions between various embodiments may be combined with each other, but must be realized by a person skilled in the art, and when the technical solutions are contradictory or cannot be realized, such a combination should not be considered to exist, and is not within the protection scope of the present invention.
The embodiment of the invention discloses an integrated mode multiplexing optical chip, wherein a phase plate surface is arranged on one side of a prism, a plurality of mode conversion structures are arranged on the phase plate surface, light beams transmitted in the prism are converted into light beams with a plurality of modes, and an incident surface and an emergent surface of the prism are parallel to each other, so that the mode multiplexing of the light is realized.
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a first embodiment of an integrated mode multiplexing optical chip of the present invention, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a second embodiment of an integrated mode multiplexing optical chip of the present invention, and referring to fig. 1 and 2, the integrated mode multiplexing optical chip includes a prism 10 made of a light-transmitting material; the prism 10 has an incident surface 11, the incident surface 11 is disposed on a first side of the prism 10 for receiving an incident light beam; the phase plate surface 12 is arranged on one side, opposite to the incident surface 11, of the prism 10, the reflecting surface 13 is arranged on one side, opposite to the phase plate surface 12, of the prism 10, the reflecting surface 13 and the phase plate surface 12 jointly act to enable the light beams to be emitted from the emergent surface 14 after being reflected for multiple times inside the prism, and the emergent surface 14 is parallel to the incident surface 11. The phase plate surface 12 is provided with a plurality of mode conversion structures which are uniformly distributed along the length direction of the phase plate surface 12, the mode conversion structures jointly act to convert light beams into light beams with a plurality of modes, and under the joint action of the reflecting surface 13 and the phase plate surface 12, the light beams are reflected by the mode conversion structures and then converted into coaxial light beams with a plurality of modes and emitted from the emitting surface 14, so that the mode multiplexing of light is realized. The prism 10 is a flat block structure, and more specifically, may be a cubic structure such as a rectangular parallelepiped structure or a cubic structure, and the phase plate 12 and the light reflecting surface 13 are disposed on a pair of parallel edges of the prism 10.
In some embodiments, 4 mode conversion structures (P1, P2, P3, P4) are disposed on the phase plate surface 12, and 4 parallel beams of light are perpendicularly incident on the incident surface 11, and are converted into coaxial beams having four modes after passing through the mode conversion structure P1, the mode conversion structure P2, the mode conversion structure P3, and the mode conversion structure P4 in sequence through multiple reflections in the prism 10, so that multiplexing of 4 modes of light is achieved, and transmission bandwidth is increased.
In some embodiments, the mode conversion structures (P1, P2, P3, P4) are etched on the phase plate 12, so that the integrated mode multiplexing optical chip has higher integrity, and the overall volume of the mode multiplexing optical chip can be reduced compared to the solution in which the split phase plate 12 and the light reflecting surface 13 are arranged by air space. Compared with the optical beam transmission in the air medium, when the refractive index of the solid medium is greater than that of air, the distance required for the optical beam to transmit in the prism 10 is shorter under the condition of equal optical path length, so as to further reduce the volume of the mode multiplexing optical chip. By arranging the incident surface 11 and the exit surface 14 to be parallel to each other, the light beam is transmitted in an N shape in the prism 10 as a whole, and compared with the light beam transmitted in an eight shape in the prior art, the volume of the mode multiplexing optical chip can be further reduced. It can be known from the foregoing that, in this embodiment, at least, the transmission distance required for light is reduced by setting the solid dielectric prism with the integral refractive index greater than that of air, and the incident surface 11 and the exit surface 14 are arranged in parallel so that light is transmitted in an "N" shape, and the two technical means act together to reduce the volume of the mode multiplexing optical chip, so that the mode multiplexing optical chip of this embodiment can be installed in a narrow space, and more specifically, can be installed in an optical module.
In some embodiments, one or both of the phase plate surface 12 and the reflective surface 13 are provided with an optical reflection enhancement film to improve the utilization of the light beam transmitted in the prism 10.
In some embodiments, the incident surface 11 and the exit surface 14 have an inclination angle with the end surface of the prism 10, so that the prism 10 is disposed in an inclined manner as a whole to reduce the lateral space required by the prism 10 during the installation process, while the incident surface 11 and the exit surface 14 are ensured to be parallel to each other.
In some embodiments, the incident surface 11 and the exit surface 14 are disposed at opposite corners of the prism 10, so that the space of the prism is fully and reasonably utilized, and the volume of the prism 10 is ensured to be minimum under the same light beam transmission requirement.
In some embodiments, the incident angle of the first embodiment is α, the incident angle of the second embodiment is β, β is smaller than α, and the overall volume of the second embodiment is smaller than that of the first embodiment because the disposition of the incident angles directly affects the spacing of the adjacent mode conversion structures. Taking the incident angles of 10 ° and 5 ° as examples, the incident angle of the light beam is set to 10 ° and the incident angle of the light beam is set to 5 ° and the light beam is incident on the incident surface 11, and the volume of the latter prism 10 is about half of the volume of the former prism 10 due to the difference of the incident angles, so that the volume of the mode multiplexing optical chip can be reduced significantly. It should be noted that the specific angle of the incident angle is not limited in this embodiment, and may be selected according to the needs in the practical application process, which should be the protection scope of the present invention.
Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a fourth embodiment of the integrated mode multiplexing optical chip of the present invention, and referring to fig. 3, the third embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that an incident surface 11 is overlapped with a light reflecting surface 13, an emission surface 14 is overlapped with a phase plate surface 12, and a first reflecting portion 15 and a second reflecting portion 16 are provided on a pair of opposite sides of a prism 10. The light beam is incident on the incident surface 11, reflected to the mode conversion structure P1 by the first reflection part 15, then acted by the phase plate surface 12 and the reflection surface 13 in the prism 10, passes through the mode conversion structure P2, the mode conversion structure P3 and the mode conversion structure P4, reflected by the reflection surface 13, and then emitted from the emission surface 14 by the second reflection part 16.
In some embodiments, the positions of the phase plate surface 12 and the light reflecting surface 13 relative to the incident surface 11 may be interchanged.
In some embodiments, the phase plate surface 12 and the light reflecting surface 13 are alternately disposed between the incident surface 11 and the exit surface 14 of the prism 10.
Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a fourth embodiment of the integrated mode multiplexing optical chip of the present invention, and referring to fig. 4, the fourth embodiment is different from the third embodiment in that the light reflecting surface 13 is also a phase plate surface 12, that is, at least one set of phase plate surfaces 12 is disposed between the incident surface 11 and the exit surface 14 of the prism 10, and a mode conversion structure is disposed on the phase plate surface 12, and the mode conversion structure may be disposed on one of the phase plate surfaces 12 or disposed on two phase plate surfaces or a plurality of phase plate surfaces, respectively, to further reduce the size of the mode multiplexer in a certain direction.
Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a fifth embodiment of the integrated mode multiplexing optical chip of the present invention, and referring to fig. 4, the fifth embodiment is different from the third embodiment in that the first reflection portion 15 is located at one end of the light reflection surface 13 and has an inclination angle with the light reflection surface 13. The light beam is reflected to the mode conversion structure P1 by the first reflection part 15 after passing through the incident surface 11, reflected on the reflective surface 13 by the mode conversion structure P1, and then passes through the mode conversion structure P2, the mode conversion structure P3 and the mode conversion structure P1 under the action of the reflective surface 13 and the phase plate surface 12.
Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a sixth embodiment of the integrated mode multiplexing optical chip of the present invention, and referring to fig. 5, a prism 20 includes a first light-transmitting block 21, a second light-transmitting block 22, and a third light-transmitting block 23, where the first light-transmitting block 21, the second light-transmitting block 22, and the third light-transmitting block 23 are integrated, specifically, they may be integrated structures, or they may be integrated structures bonded by light-transmitting glue. The first light passing block 21 has an incident surface 211, a first phase plate surface 212, a second phase plate surface 213, a first light reflecting surface 214, and a second light reflecting surface 215, and the first light reflecting surface 214 and the incident surface 211 have an inclination angle therebetween. The first phase plate surface 212 and the second phase plate surface 213 are disposed adjacently, the first light reflecting surface 214 and the second light reflecting surface 215 are disposed adjacently, the prism 20 is integrally in a trapezoidal structure, and the mode conversion structure P1, the mode conversion structure P2, the mode conversion structure P3 and the mode conversion structure P4 are respectively etched on the first phase plate surface 212 and the second phase plate surface 213. The second light-passing block 22 is provided with a third light-reflecting surface 221, and the third light-reflecting surface 221 is arranged opposite to the first phase plate surface 212 and the second phase plate surface 213. The third light transmitting block 23 has a fourth light reflecting surface 231 and an exit surface 232, and the exit surface 232 is disposed opposite to the incident surface 211, the first phase plate surface 212, and the second phase plate surface 213. After the light beam enters from the entrance surface 211, the light beam is reflected by the mode conversion structure P1, then reflected to the mode conversion structure P2 through the first reflective surface 214, then reflected to the mode conversion structure P3 through the third reflective surface 221, then reflected to the mode conversion structure P4 through the second reflective surface 215, and finally emitted from the exit surface 232 through the fourth reflective surface 231. The light beams in this embodiment are reflected in the horizontal and vertical directions within the prism 20 so that the light beams realize mode multiplexing of the light beams in the small-sized prism 20.
In some embodiments, the second light passing block 22 and the third light passing block 23 have the same structure shape and have a right-angled trapezoid structure as a whole.
More specifically, in the above embodiments, two adjacent mode conversion structures are grouped into one group, and the optical path lengths between every two adjacent groups of mode conversion structures are equal. Specifically, taking a prism having 4 mode conversion structures as an example, the optical path length between the mode conversion structure P1 and the mode conversion structure P2, the optical path length between the mode conversion structure P2 and the mode conversion structure P3, and the optical path length between the mode conversion structure P3 and the mode conversion structure P4 are all equal. Embodiments of the present invention do not limit the number of mode conversion structures, and specific mode conversion structures may be increased or decreased as necessary.
Fig. 7 is a front plan view of an embodiment of a mode conversion structure in the integrated mode multiplexing optical chip of the present invention, and referring to fig. 7, fig. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the mode conversion structure. The phase plane, namely the mode conversion structure, is designed based on diffraction optics and an angular spectrum theory, mode conversion microgrooves with different depths are designed, the maximum depth h of the mode conversion microgrooves is nano-scale, the purpose of regulating and controlling the phase is achieved through the difference of the depths, and after light beams are acted on a phase plane surface and a reflecting surface for multiple times, several beams of conventional collimated light are combined into one beam of light for coaxial transmission while completing mode conversion. Of course, it is possible to convert an array of beams consisting of N different positions of conventional collimated light into N different order mode coaxially transmitted beams through multiple phase planes.
The mode conversion structure in the embodiment of the invention is a specific micro-nano structure pattern formed after algorithm processing according to different light modes.
The prism in the embodiment of the invention is made of light-transmitting materials such as glass, silicon, resin, light-transmitting plastic and the like, or the prism is provided with one or more of a glass layer, a resin layer, a silicon layer and an optical plastic layer.
The technical features of the embodiments described above can be arbitrarily combined, and for the sake of brevity, all possible combinations of the technical features in the embodiments described above are not described, but should be considered as being within the scope of the present specification as long as there is no contradiction between the combinations of the technical features.
The above-mentioned embodiments only express several embodiments of the present invention, and the description thereof is more specific and detailed, but not construed as limiting the scope of the invention. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the inventive concept, which falls within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent shall be subject to the appended claims.