CN212515124U

CN212515124U - Optical power distributor

Info

Publication number: CN212515124U
Application number: CN202021854600.1U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 方锦辉; 程驰
Original assignee: Hubei Optoplex Corp
Current assignee: Hubei Optoplex Corp
Priority date: 2020-08-28
Filing date: 2020-08-28
Publication date: 2021-02-09
Anticipated expiration: 2030-08-28

Abstract

The invention discloses an optical power distributor, which solves the problems of large insertion loss and large volume of the traditional PLC optical splitter. The optical power divider is formed by cascading a 1 x 3 optical splitter and two 1 x 4 optical splitters; the optical power divider comprises a 1 × 3 optical divider, wherein an input port is an input port of the optical power divider, a first 1 × 3 output port and a third 1 × 3 output port are input ports of a first 1 × 4 optical divider and a second 1 × 3 output port respectively, a second 1 × 3 output port is one output port of the optical power divider, the power division ratio of the first 1 × 3 output port to the third 1 × 3 output port is 1:1, and the power division ratio of the first 1 × 3 output port to the second 1 × 3 output port is 15: 70-1: 4; the output ports of the first and second 1 x 4 optical splitters are both output ports of the optical power splitter. The invention realizes the 1X 9 planar waveguide optical splitter with small insertion loss.

Description

Optical power distributor

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of optical communication, in particular to an optical power distributor.

Background

The optical branching device can be divided into a fused biconical taper type product and a planar waveguide type product according to the principle, wherein the fused biconical taper type product is formed by welding two or more optical fibers at the side surface; the planar waveguide type is a micro-optical element type product, and adopts the photoetching technology to form an optical waveguide on a medium or a semiconductor substrate so as to realize the branch distribution function. A planar waveguide type optical Splitter (PLC Splitter) is an integrated waveguide optical power distribution device based on a quartz substrate, and currently, there are two types, 1 × N and 2 × N. The 1 XN and 2 XN splitters evenly input optical signals from single or double inlets to multiple outlets equally, or work in reverse to merge multiple optical signals into single or double fibers. The optical splitter in the prior art cannot meet the application requirements due to partial indexes such as large insertion loss, large volume and the like.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides an optical power distributor, which solves the problems of large insertion loss and large volume of the traditional PLC optical splitter.

In order to solve the problems, the invention is realized as follows:

the embodiment of the invention provides an optical power divider, which is a 1 × 9 planar waveguide optical splitter, wherein the 1 × 3 optical splitter comprises an input port and three output ports, the input port is an input port of the optical power divider, a first 1 × 3 output port and a third 1 × 3 output port are input ports of a first 1 × 4 optical splitter and a second 1 × 4 optical splitter respectively, the second 1 × 3 output port is one output port of the optical power divider, the power distribution ratio of the first 1 × 3 output port to the third 1 × 3 output port is 1:1, and the power distribution ratio of the first 1 × 3 output port to the second 1 × 3 output port is 15: 70-1: 4; the output ports of the first and second 1 × 4 optical splitters are both output ports of the optical power splitter.

Preferably, the width of one end of the 1 × 3 optical splitter, where the S-shaped transition line is connected to the rectangular multimode region, is determined by the power splitting ratio of the 1 × 3 optical splitter, and the width of the other end is a standard width of a single-mode waveguide.

Preferably, the length of the rectangular multimode region in the 1 × 3 optical splitter ranges from 81.5 μm to 82.5 μm, the width of the rectangular multimode region ranges from 11.5 μm to 12.5 μm, the width of the S-shaped gradient line ranges from 2.5 μm to 3.5 μm, the width of the central gradient line ranges from 2.7 μm to 3.7 μm, and the distance between the gradient lines ranges from 0 μm to 1 μm

Preferably, the wavelength range of the input light of the optical power divider is 1240nm to 1660 nm.

Preferably, the insertion loss range of the 1 × 4 optical splitter is-6.15 to-6.04 dB, the insertion loss range of the direct output port in the 1 × 3 optical splitter is-1.55 to-1.46 dB, and the insertion loss ranges of the other two ports are-8.67 to-8.62 dB.

Preferably, the curvature radius of the S-shaped gradual change line of the 1 x 3 optical splitter is 4950-5050 μm, the width of one end of the S-shaped gradual change line connected with the rectangular multimode region is 2.5-3.5 μm, and the width of the other end of the S-shaped gradual change line is 2.8 μm.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a manufacturing method of the optical power distributor, which is used for manufacturing the optical power distributor and comprises the following steps: cascading a 1 × 3 optical splitter and two 1 × 4 optical splitters, wherein two output ports of the 1 × 3 optical splitter are input ports of the two 1 × 4 optical splitters respectively.

Preferably, the method for obtaining the structural size of the 1 × 3 optical splitter further comprises: firstly, according to a preset power distribution ratio of a 1 x 3 optical splitter, simulating to obtain the width of one end of an S-shaped gradual change line connected with a rectangular multimode area and the width of one end of a central gradual change line connected with the rectangular multimode area, and then according to an insertion loss requirement, simulating to obtain a gradual change line spacing range and a rectangular multimode area length range and width range.

The beneficial effects of the invention include: the invention designs a novel 1 x 9 optical power distributor, which adopts a structural form of cascading a 1 x 3 optical splitter and two 1 x 4 optical splitters, and realizes the reduction of the size of a device and smaller insertion loss by optimizing the length, width and spacing of different taper (gradient lines) and rectangular multimode areas in the optical power distributor.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the invention and not to limit the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a conventional optical power splitter;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an embodiment of an optical power splitter according to the present invention;

fig. 3(a) is a schematic diagram of a 1 × 3 optical splitter according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3(b) is a schematic diagram of structural parameters of a 1 × 3 optical splitter according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 shows an embodiment of a 1 × 4 optical splitter according to the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the technical solutions of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the specific embodiments of the present invention and the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the described embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, and not restrictive of the full scope of the invention. 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.

The optical branching device can be divided into a fused biconical taper type product and a planar waveguide type product according to the principle, wherein the fused biconical taper type product is formed by welding two or more optical fibers at the side surface; the planar waveguide type is a micro-optical element type product, and adopts the photoetching technology to form an optical waveguide on a medium or a semiconductor substrate so as to realize the branch distribution function. The two types of light splitting principles are similar, and the two types of light splitting principles realize different branch quantities by changing evanescent field mutual coupling (coupling degree and coupling length) between optical fibers and changing the radius of an optical fiber core, and conversely, a plurality of paths of optical signals can be combined into one signal, which is called a combiner. A planar waveguide type optical Splitter (PLC Splitter) is an integrated waveguide optical power distribution device based on a quartz substrate. The planar optical waveguide splitter has the characteristics of small volume, wide working wavelength range, high reliability, good light splitting uniformity and the like, and is particularly suitable for connecting a local terminal and terminal equipment in a passive optical network (EPON, BPON, GPON and the like) and realizing splitting of optical signals.

The innovation points of the invention are as follows: firstly, the invention designs a novel 1 × 9 optical power distributor, which adopts a structure form of cascading a 1 × 3 optical splitter and two 1 × 4 optical splitters, and the designed optical power distributor has a small size; secondly, the design simulation optimization of the invention obtains the length, width and spacing of different taper and rectangular multimode regions, and has the effects of smaller device size and lower insertion loss.

The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows an embodiment of a conventional optical power splitter.

In the prior art, partial indexes of the optical splitter such as large insertion loss, large volume and the like cannot meet application requirements. The insertion loss is an important index of the optical splitter, fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an existing 1 × 9 optical splitter, one path of input light is directly output after being divided into two paths, the other path of input light continues to be divided into two paths, and finally one path and eight path are achieved, so that the 1 × 9 optical splitter is obtained.

The specification requirements of the existing 1 × 9 optical splitter are shown in the following table:

table 1 existing index specification for 1 × 9 optical splitter

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an optical power splitter according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is a 1 × 9 planar waveguide optical splitter, and as an embodiment of the present invention, an optical power splitter 1 includes: the optical splitter comprises a 1 × 3 optical splitter 2, a first 1 × 4 optical splitter 3, a second 1 × 4 optical splitter 4, an input port 20, a first output port 11, a second output port 12, a third output port 13, a fourth output port 14, a fifth output port 15, a sixth output port 16, a seventh output port 17, an eighth output port 18, and a ninth output port 19.

The optical power divider is formed by cascading a 1 x 3 optical splitter and two 1 x 4 optical splitters; and the output ports of the two 1 × 4 optical splitters are both the output ports of the optical power divider.

The 1 × 3 optical splitter includes an input port and three output ports, where the input port is an input port of the optical power splitter, the first 1 × 3 output port is an input port of the first 1 × 4 optical splitter, the third 1 × 3 output port is an input port of the second 1 × 4 optical splitter, and the second 1 × 3 output port is one of the output ports of the optical power splitter, that is, the second 1 × 3 output port is the fifth output port.

The power distribution ratio of the first 1 × 3 output port and the third 1 × 3 output port is 1:1, the power distribution ratio of the first 1 × 3 output port and the second 1 × 3 output port is 15: 70-1: 4, namely the power distribution ratio of the first 1 × 3 output port and the second 1 × 3 output port is greater than or equal to 15:70 and less than or equal to 1: 4.

In the present invention, the power splitting ratio of the optical power splitter is a predetermined value, and the first 1 × 3 output port: second 1 × 3 output port: the power split ratio of the third 1 x 3 output port is 15:70: 15.

Note also that, the first 1 × 3 output port: second 1 × 3 output port: the ideal value of the power splitting ratio of the third 1 x 3 output port is 1:4: 1.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the input port is an input port of the 1 × 3 optical splitter, one of the output ports of the 1 × 3 optical splitter is the fifth output port, the other two output ports of the 1 × 3 optical splitter are input ports of the first 1 × 4 optical splitter and the second 1 × 4 optical splitter, the output ports of the first 1 × 4 optical splitter are the first to fourth output ports, and the output ports of the second 1 × 4 optical splitter are the sixth to ninth output ports.

Input light enters from the input port, passes through the 1 × 3 optical splitter, is divided into three paths, one path of the input light is directly output from the fifth output port, one path of the other two paths passes through the first 1 × 4 optical splitter, is divided into four paths, is output from the first to fourth output ports, and the other path of the input light passes through the second 1 × 4 optical splitter, is divided into four paths, and is output from the sixth to ninth output ports.

In the embodiment of the invention, the wavelength range of input light of the optical power distributor is 1240-1660 nm, the length range of a rectangular multimode area in the 1 × 3 optical splitter is 81.5-82.5 μm, the width range of the rectangular multimode area is 11.5-12.5 μm, the width range of an S-shaped gradient line is 2.5-3.5 μm, the width range of a central gradient line is 2.7-3.7 μm, and the distance range of the gradient lines is 0-1 μm.

The insertion loss simulation result of the 1 × 9 planar waveguide optical splitter designed by the invention is shown in the following table 2.

Insertion loss of planar waveguide optical splitter of 21X 9 table

The wavelength range of the input light is 1240nm to 1660nm, and the insertion loss value simulation results of the first output Port (Port 1) to the ninth output Port (Port 9) are shown in table 2 above. The fifth output port is the direct output port of the 1 × 3 optical splitter, so that the insertion loss value of the port is minimum, and the other first to fourth output ports and the sixth to ninth output ports are the direct output ports of the 1 × 4 optical splitter, and the insertion loss values are close to each other.

The embodiment of the invention provides a 1 × 9 planar waveguide optical splitter, which adopts a structural form that a 1 × 3 optical splitter is cascaded with two 1 × 4 optical splitters, so that the device size is smaller and the insertion loss is lower.

Fig. 3(a) is a schematic view of a 1 × 3 optical splitter according to an embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 3(b) is a schematic view of structural parameters of a 1 × 3 optical splitter according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The 1 × 3 optical splitter shown in fig. 3(a) includes an input port, a first 1 × 3 output port, a second 1 × 3 output port, and a third 1 × 3 output port.

The input port of the 1 × 3 optical splitter 2 is the input port 20 of the 1 × 9 planar waveguide optical splitter.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the output port labeled (c) is the second 1 × 3 output port, that is, the fifth output port of the optical power splitter, the output port labeled (r) is the first 1 × 3 output port, and the output port labeled (c) is the third 1 × 3 output port.

In fig. 3(a), the 1 × 3 optical splitter has 3 output ports, the output port labeled (ii) is used as a direct output port of the 1 × 9 planar waveguide optical splitter, that is, a fifth output port, the output port labeled (i) is an input port of the first 1 × 4 optical splitter, and the output port labeled (iii) is an input port of the second 1 × 4 optical splitter.

Input light enters from the input port, passes through the 1 x 3 optical splitters and is divided into three paths, wherein one path is directly output through the output port with the label of II, and the other two paths are output after being split through the two 1 x 4 optical splitters.

Fig. 3(b) provides the structural parameters of the 1 × 3 optical splitter according to the present invention, and the structural schematic diagram of the 1 × 3 planar waveguide optical splitter is as shown in fig. 3 (b).

Light beams enter through the input port and are output to 3 different ports through the optical splitter, namely the first 1 x 3 output port, the second 1 x 3 output port and the third 1 x 3 output port, wherein parameters such as the length, the width and the distance of 3 tapers and the rectangular multimode area are optimized through design simulation, so that the optical index of the optical splitter is better.

In the embodiment of the invention, the widths of two ends of the S-shaped gradual change line in the 1 × 3 optical splitter are different, the width of one end connected with the rectangular multimode area is determined by the power distribution ratio of the 1 × 3 optical splitter, and the width of the other end is the standard width of the single-mode waveguide.

For example, the curvature radius of the S-shaped gradual change line of the 1 x 3 optical splitter is 4950-5050 μm, the width of one end of the S-shaped gradual change line connected with the rectangular multimode region is 2.5-3.5 μm, and the width of the other end of the S-shaped gradual change line is 2.8 μm.

The width of two ends of the S-shaped gradual change line is different, so that the transmission loss can be reduced, and the insertion loss performance is improved.

It should be noted that 2.8 μm is a standard width of a single-mode waveguide.

It should be noted that the curvature radius of the S-shaped gradient is greater than or equal to 4950 and less than or equal to 5050 μm, and within this range, the 1 × 3 optical splitter can ensure that the performance meets the requirement and the structure size is more compact.

Fig. 3(b) shows a set of structural parameter ranges obtained through simulation, the input light wavelength range is 1240-1660 nm, the structural parameter requirements are shown in table 3 below, and the insertion loss values corresponding to the simulated input light wavelengths 1250 nm-1650 nm in this range are shown in table 4 below.

Table 31 x 3 optical splitter structural parameters

Parameter(s)	Size range (μm)
		Length of rectangular multimode region	82±0.5
Width of rectangular multimode region	12±0.5
		Width of S-shape taper	3.0±0.5
Width of center taper	3.2±0.5
		Pitch of taper	0.5±0.5

Table 41 x 3 optical splitter insertion loss

Note that, the areas indicated by the rectangular multimode area length, the rectangular multimode area width, the S-shaped taper line width (S-shaped taper line width), the central taper line width (central taper line width), and the taper pitch (taper line pitch) are marked in the figure.

The length of the rectangular multimode area refers to the size along the light transmission direction, the width of the rectangular multimode area refers to the direction perpendicular to the light transmission direction, the S-shaped gradient lines are two upper and lower gradient lines in three gradient lines, the width of the S-shaped gradient line refers to the size of the S-shaped waveguide along the light transmission direction, the central gradient line refers to one of the middle of the three gradient lines, the width of the central gradient line refers to the size along the light transmission direction, and the distance between the gradient lines refers to the distance between the S-shaped gradient line and the central gradient line.

The insertion loss range of the direct output port in the 1 × 3 optical splitter is-1.55 to-1.46 dB, and the insertion loss ranges of the other two ports are-8.67 to-8.62 dB, as shown in table 4 above.

Fig. 4 shows an embodiment of a 1 × 4 optical splitter according to the present invention, and an embodiment of the present invention provides a 1 × 4 optical splitter, which can be used in the first or second 1 × 4 optical splitter of the 1 × 9 planar waveguide optical splitter according to the present invention.

The input port of the 1 × 4 optical splitter is the output port of the 1 × 3 optical splitter, and the output port of the 1 × 4 optical splitter is the output port of the 1 × 9 planar waveguide optical splitter.

Input light enters from an input port of the 1 x 4 optical splitter, and is output from an output port after being divided into four.

The wavelength range of input light is 1240-1660 nm, the insertion loss value of the corresponding 1 × 4 optical splitter is shown in the following table 5, and the insertion loss range of the 1 × 4 optical splitter is-6.15 to-6.04 dB.

Table 51 × 4 optical splitter insertion loss

The embodiment of the invention also provides a manufacturing method of the optical power distributor, which comprises the following steps:

step 101, cascading one 1 × 3 optical splitter and two 1 × 4 optical splitters, where two output ports of the 1 × 3 optical splitter are input ports of the two 1 × 4 optical splitters, respectively.

In step 101, the structural parameters and insertion loss performance of the 1 × 3 optical splitter and the 1 × 4 optical splitter are discussed in other embodiments of the present invention, and the discussion is not repeated here.

In step 101, an optical waveguide is formed on a dielectric or semiconductor substrate by using a photolithography technique, and the embodiment of the invention provides a structural form of the optical waveguide.

In step 101, the method for obtaining the optimal structure size of the 1 × 3 optical splitter further includes: firstly, according to a preset power distribution ratio of a 1 x 3 optical splitter, simulating to obtain the width of one end of an S-shaped gradual change line connected with a rectangular multimode area and the width of one end of a central gradual change line connected with the rectangular multimode area, and then according to an insertion loss requirement, simulating to obtain a gradual change line spacing range and a rectangular multimode area length range and width range.

For example, the power distribution ratio of the three preset 1 × 3 optical splitters is 15:70:15, the insertion loss requirements of the three preset 1 × 3 optical splitters are that the insertion loss requirement of one output path is smaller than or equal to-1.4 dB within the input wavelength range of 1250-1650 nm, and the insertion loss requirements of the other two paths are smaller than or equal to-8.5 dB.

The insertion loss requirements of the 1 × 3 optical splitter may be the same or different for each path, and are not particularly limited herein.

In step 101, the method further comprises: and further determining an S-shaped gradient width optimal value, a central gradient width optimal value, a gradient line spacing optimal value, a rectangular multimode region length optimal value and a rectangular multimode region width optimal value when the insertion loss is minimum in the S-shaped gradient width range, the central gradient width range, the gradient line spacing range, the rectangular multimode region length range and the rectangular multimode region width range according to a simulation result.

For example, the length of the rectangular multimode region in the 1 × 3 optical splitter ranges from 81.5 μm to 82.5 μm, the width of the rectangular multimode region ranges from 11.5 μm to 12.5 μm, the width of the sigmoid gradient ranges from 2.5 μm to 3.5 μm, the width of the central gradient ranges from 2.7 μm to 3.7 μm, the pitch of the gradient ranges from 0 μm to 1 μm, and the optimal values of the sigmoid gradient width are determined to be 3 μm at one end and 2.8 μm at the other end, 3.2 μm at the center gradient width, 0.5 μm at the gradient pitch, 82 μm at the rectangular multimode region length, and 12 μm at the rectangular multimode region width.

It is to be noted that the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

The above description is only an example of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention. Various modifications and alterations to this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. An optical power divider is a 1 x 9 planar waveguide optical splitter,

the optical power divider is formed by cascading a 1 x 3 optical splitter and two 1 x 4 optical splitters;

the 1 × 3 optical splitter comprises an input port and three output ports, wherein the input port is an input port of the optical power splitter, the first 1 × 3 output port and the third 1 × 3 output port are input ports of a first 1 × 4 optical splitter and a second 1 × 3 output port is one output port of the optical power splitter, the power splitting ratio of the first 1 × 3 output port and the third 1 × 3 output port is 1:1, and the power splitting ratio of the first 1 × 3 output port and the second 1 × 3 output port is 15: 70-1: 4;

the output ports of the first and second 1 × 4 optical splitters are both output ports of the optical power splitter.

2. The optical power splitter as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the 1 x 3 optical splitter, the width of one end of the S-shaped transition line connected to the rectangular multimode region is determined by the power splitting ratio of the 1 x 3 optical splitter, and the width of the other end is a single-mode waveguide standard width.

3. The optical power divider of claim 1, wherein the length of the rectangular multimode region in the 1 x 3 optical splitter is in the range of 81.5 to 82.5 μm, the width of the rectangular multimode region is in the range of 11.5 to 12.5 μm, the width of the S-shaped gradient is in the range of 2.5 to 3.5 μm, the width of the central gradient is in the range of 2.7 to 3.7 μm, and the pitch of the gradient is in the range of 0 to 1 μm.

4. The optical power splitter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the input light wavelength of the optical power splitter is in a range of 1240nm to 1660 nm.

5. The optical power splitter of claim 1, wherein the insertion loss ranges of the first and second 1 x 4 optical splitters are-6.15 to-6.04 dB, the insertion loss ranges of the direct output ports of the 1 x 3 optical splitters are-1.55 to-1.46 dB, and the insertion loss ranges of the other two ports are-8.67 to-8.62 dB.

6. The optical power splitter as claimed in claim 2, wherein the radius of curvature of the S-shaped transition of the 1 x 3 optical splitter is 4950 to 5050 μm, and the width of the end of the S-shaped transition connected to the rectangular multimode region is 2.5 to 3.5 μm and the width of the other end is 2.8 μm.