JP2000338356A - Production of optical transmission medium with holder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a process for producing an optical transmission medium with a holder having an optical connection end face at which the holder and an optical fiber are integrated via an adhesive and which is reduced in the peeling of the adhesive. SOLUTION: This process for production consists in successively executing (A) a primary polishing treatment stage for subjecting the end face of the optical fiber and the end face of the optical fiber holder to a polishing treatment in a state of having elasticity without the complete curing of the adhesive, (B) a curing accelerating stage for accelerating at least the curing of the adhesive near the respective end faces subjected to the primary polishing treatment in the stage (A) and (C) a secondary polishing treatment stage for finishing the end face of the optical fiber and the end face of the optical fiber holder by the polishing treatment of the optical connecting end face of the optical transmission medium.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an improvement in a method for manufacturing an optical transmission medium with a holder. More specifically, the present invention provides a polishing method for polishing an end face of an optical transmission medium in which a holder and an optical fiber are integrated via an adhesive so that peeling at an interface between the adhesive and a member to be bonded is unlikely to occur. The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an optical transmission medium with a holder having high reliability in long-term use by forming an optical connection end face.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an optical communication technology using an optical fiber as an information transmission line has been rapidly and dramatically developed with the advent of a low-loss optical fiber, and has been spreading in a wide range of fields. In this optical fiber, optical fibers are optically connected to each other, or an optical fiber and an optical waveguide element (here, the “optical waveguide element” does not include an optical fiber).
It is common to optically connect optical elements such as a light emitting element, a light receiving element, a diffraction grating, and a lens. The “optical connection” in the present invention means an optical connection. In such an optical connection, for example, when an optical connection is made between multi-core optical transmission media for transmitting light through a plurality of optical fibers, the optical fibers on the side to be optically connected are connected to each other. It is desired that one end of each of these optical fibers be positioned and fixed with high precision in advance so that the relative positional relationship of the optical fibers becomes a predetermined relationship.

[0003] Under such circumstances, by fixing one end of each optical fiber on the side to be optically connected to a predetermined holder, a multi-core optical transmission in which one end of each optical fiber is accurately positioned and fixed. Medium is being developed. A typical example of the multi-core optical transmission medium is an optical fiber array.

Further, since the above holder can be used as a guide or a connector for optical connection, a single-core optical transmission medium for transmitting light through an optical fiber can be used for optical connection. An optical fiber in which one end of the optical fiber on the side to be fixed is fixed to a predetermined holder has been developed.

[0005] The holder is made of an inorganic material such as silicon, glass or ceramics, various synthetic resins, or
The holder is made of a composite material of a resin and an inorganic material, and the holder has an optical fiber positioning portion for positioning one end of the optical fiber. As the optical fiber positioning portion, a through-hole having a predetermined shape and size, a groove, or the like is used, and a holder having an optical fiber positioning portion using a groove generally includes a holder,
An optical fiber fixing member on which the optical fiber positioning portion is formed, and a holding member for cooperating with the optical fiber fixing member to clamp an optical fiber whose one end is positioned by the optical fiber positioning portion. And a member.

As a method of manufacturing an optical transmission medium with a holder, the following method has been conventionally used. That is,
An optical fiber fixing member having one or a plurality of V-grooves on a surface for positioning an end surface of an optical fiber is prepared, and an adhesive is applied to the surface of the member and the V-groove. Is placed, the end of the optical fiber is pressed by the pressing member and fitted into the V groove, the adhesive is completely cured, and the end of the optical fiber is fixed. After the optical fiber and the holder are integrated in this way, the end face on the optical connection side is polished so as to be finished in a predetermined state, whereby the intended optical transmission medium with the holder is obtained. In the above polishing process, the end face of the optical transmission medium can be polished obliquely, if necessary.

However, in such a conventional method, the adhesive is completely cured before the optical connection end face is formed by the polishing treatment, so that the adhesive loses flexibility, and as a result, the end face polishing is performed. During processing, a physical force is applied to the optical transmission medium, peeling is likely to occur at the interface between the member to be bonded and the adhesive, and it is difficult to obtain a highly reliable optical transmission medium with a holder for long-term use. there were.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the problems of the conventional method for manufacturing an optical transmission medium with a holder, and the holder and the optical fiber are integrated via an adhesive. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for efficiently manufacturing an optical transmission medium with a holder having an optical connection end face, in which the occurrence of peeling at an interface between an adhesive and a member to be bonded is suppressed, and is highly reliable for long-term use. Is what you do.

[0009]

Means for Solving the Problems The present inventors have conducted intensive studies to achieve the above object, and as a result, fixed the end of the optical fiber to an optical fiber holder with an adhesive, and In producing the optical transmission medium with the holder by polishing the end face of the holder, the end face of the optical fiber and the optical fiber holder is primarily polished in a state where the adhesive has elasticity without being completely cured. After the treatment, at least the adhesive in the vicinity of the polished end face is accelerated to cure, and then the end face of the optical fiber and the optical fiber holder is subjected to a secondary polishing treatment, and in some cases, the adhesive is completely cured. , That they can achieve their purpose,
Based on this finding, the present invention has been completed.

That is, the present invention provides an optical transmission medium in which an end portion of an optical fiber is fixed to an optical fiber holder with an adhesive, and the end surface of the optical fiber and the end surface of the optical fiber holding portion on the same side are polished. The method of manufacturing an optical transmission medium with a holder for forming an optical connection end face according to (a), wherein the adhesive has an elasticity without being completely cured and has an end face of the optical fiber and an end face of the optical fiber holder. A primary polishing treatment step of polishing, (B) a curing acceleration step of accelerating at least the adhesive in the vicinity of each end face polished in the (A) step, and (C) a curing acceleration step in the (B) step. A secondary polishing step of polishing the end face of the optical fiber and the end face of the optical fiber holder to finish the optical connection end face of the optical transmission medium; and, in some cases, (D) completely curing the adhesive. There is provided a method for manufacturing a holding fixture with optical transmission medium, characterized in that subjecting the entire curing process, sequentially.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The method of manufacturing an optical transmission medium with a holder according to the present invention comprises fixing an end of an optical fiber to an optical fiber holder with an adhesive, and connecting the end face of the optical fiber to an optical fiber on the same side as the end face. A method of forming an optical connection end face of an optical transmission medium by polishing an end face of a holding portion, comprising: (A) a primary polishing step; (B) a curing acceleration step; (C) a secondary polishing step; And (D) a complete curing treatment step.

The structure and material of the optical fiber holder used in the method of the present invention are not particularly limited, and an optical fiber holder conventionally used in an optical transmission medium with a holder can be used. Examples of the material include inorganic materials such as silicon, glass, and ceramics, various plastics, and a composite material of a plastic and an inorganic material.

The type and material of the optical fiber are not particularly limited, and an optical fiber conventionally used in an optical transmission medium with a holder can be used. Further, the number of optical fibers for fixing the ends is not particularly limited, and may be one or two or more. That is, in the method of the present invention, both a single-core optical transmission medium and a multi-core optical transmission medium can be manufactured.

Further, as an adhesive used to fix the end of the optical fiber to the optical fiber holder, a photo-curing adhesive which is cured by irradiation of active light such as ultraviolet rays, a thermosetting adhesive which is cured by heating Adhesives or photo-thermosetting adhesives that can be cured by irradiation with active light and heating can be used, and among these, photo-thermosetting adhesives are particularly suitable.

By using such a light / thermosetting adhesive, it is necessary to perform the temporary fixing of the adhesive which is required to be performed while maintaining the relative positional relationship between the optical fiber and the holder in a desired relationship. Curing can be performed for each holder and each optical fiber to be fixed to the holder by light irradiation that can be cured in a relatively short time, and the curing of the adhesive is accelerated by primary polishing. Since it becomes possible to perform a plurality of optical transmission media at once by, for example, heating,
Productivity can be improved.

The photo-thermosetting adhesive generally comprises a photopolymerizable or thermopolymerizable prepolymer as a basic component, and further includes a photopolymerizable or thermopolymerizable monomer and, if desired, a cation or a thermopolymerizable polymer by irradiation with active light or heating. It contains a polymerization initiator that generates radicals and the like. Examples of the prepolymer include radical polymerization type prepolymers such as polyester acrylate type, epoxy acrylate type, urethane acrylate type and polyol acrylate type, and cation polymerization type prepolymers such as epoxy resin. Or two or more of them may be used in combination. As the polymerization initiator, in particular, a combination of one that generates a cation by irradiation with active light and one that generates a radical by heating is suitable. Such a light / thermosetting adhesive can be easily obtained as a commercial product.

Next, a method of manufacturing the optical transmission medium with a holder according to the present invention will be described for each step. (A) Primary polishing processing step: This primary polishing processing step is performed so that the relative positional relationship between the optical fiber and the holder does not deviate from a desired relation in a secondary polishing processing step described later.
After temporarily fixing the end of the optical fiber to the holder with an adhesive, the end face of the optical fiber and the end face of the optical fiber holder on the same side are polished.

It is necessary to perform the primary polishing in a state where the adhesive is not completely cured and has elasticity. By performing the end surface polishing while the adhesive retains flexibility, the stress applied to the optical transmission medium during the primary polishing is reduced, the peeling of the adhesive is suppressed, and the durability is improved. I do.

At this time, the degree of curing of the adhesive is determined in addition to the kind of the adhesive to be used, the adhesive strength, the materials of the members to be bonded (the holder and the optical fiber), and the primary polishing treatment in addition to the optical fiber and the holder. It is appropriately selected according to the force to be applied. It is advantageous to grasp the relationship between the curing conditions and the degree of curing for the adhesive to be used in advance, and to select the curing conditions so that the desired degree of curing is achieved.

The curing of the adhesive in the step (A) is as follows.
It is desirable to carry out by irradiating active light such as ultraviolet rays. Further, in order to prevent the relative positional relationship between the holder and the optical fiber to be temporarily fixed thereto from shifting from the desired relationship during the primary polishing process, until the adhesive is in a desired cured state. It is preferable that the holder and the optical fiber be fastened by a jig.

In the step (A), after the adhesive is cured to a desired cured state, that is, a state of elasticity without being completely cured, the end face of the optical fiber and the same The end face of the holder on the side is primarily polished, but the polishing method is not particularly limited, and an appropriate method can be selected from known methods according to the material of the optical fiber and the holder and used. it can. For example, a method in which the member to be polished is attached to a jig, and a polishing process is performed using an abrasive having a particle size of 10 μm or less or a glass polishing machine can be adopted. In addition, since the adhesive is not completely cured, in the first polishing process, in order to suppress occurrence of a deviation in the relative positional relationship between the optical fiber and the holder, an optical fiber and It is preferable to select the polishing means and the polishing conditions so that the force applied to the holder is as small as possible.

In the first polishing treatment, the end face of the optical transmission medium (in which the optical fiber and the holder are integrated) is 5 to 15 ° with respect to a vertical plane perpendicular to the optical fiber optical axis.
It is preferable to perform the polishing treatment so as to be inclined backward in the range of the above.
The reason is to reduce the reflection loss at the end face of the optical fiber. The above angle is determined in consideration of the refractive index and the like of the optical fiber.
, The reflection loss can be reduced.

(B) Curing acceleration step: This curing accelerating step is a step of at least accelerating the curing of the optical fiber which has been subjected to the primary polishing and the adhesive near the end face of the holder in the step (A). In the step (B),
In the subsequent secondary polishing in the step (C), it is important to promote the hardening to such a degree that the end face of the optical transmission medium can be finished to the optical connection end face. Therefore,
The adhesive in the vicinity of the end faces of the optical fiber and the holder may be accelerated to the above hardness, and it is not necessary to accelerate the curing of all the adhesive. Omit this curing acceleration step,
When the secondary polishing treatment is performed, the curing of the adhesive is insufficient, so that the end face becomes uneven, and a desired optical connection end face cannot be formed. By performing the step (B), the end face of the optical transmission medium can be satisfactorily finished as an optical connection end face by the secondary polishing process.

In the step (B), the curing of the adhesive is preferably accelerated by heating. In particular, it is preferable that the end face is brought into contact with the heating element while the optical transmission medium is attached to the end face polishing jig to accelerate the curing of the adhesive. In order to polish the end faces of many optical transmission media in one lot, the end face polishing jig usually has a plurality of optical transmission media mounted on its holder. Instead, a method of curing the adhesive by bringing its end face into contact with the heating element is advantageous from the viewpoint of production efficiency.

The extent to which the adhesive is to be accelerated in this curing acceleration treatment to achieve a hardness sufficient to finish the optical connection end face in the secondary polishing treatment depends on the type of the adhesive used and the above (A). ) It depends on the curing state of the adhesive in the step. Therefore, it is preferable that the necessary curing conditions in the curing acceleration treatment be determined in advance by a test or the like.

(C) Secondary polishing treatment step: This secondary polishing treatment step is a step of polishing the end face of the optical transmission medium with high surface accuracy to finish the optical connection end face. In the step (B), since the adhesive near the end face of the optical transmission medium is sufficiently cured, the end face of the optical connection can be easily finished by the secondary polishing. The secondary polishing method is not particularly limited, and can be appropriately selected from known methods according to the materials of the optical fiber and the holder.

(D) Complete curing treatment step: This complete curing treatment step is a step of completely curing the adhesive as required. For example, in the step (B), when a portion where the adhesive is not completely cured remains, it is preferable to perform the step (D) to completely cure the adhesive. The complete curing treatment can be generally performed by heating.

Thus, the steps (A), (B),
By sequentially performing the step (C) and the step (D) as necessary, the holder and the optical fiber are integrated via the adhesive, and the peeling of the adhesive and the stress generated in the adhesive layer are reduced. Further, an optical transmission medium with a holder having an optical connection end face can be efficiently obtained. When the optical transmission medium with the holder obtained by the method of the present invention is optically connected to each other, or the optical transmission medium with the holder and the optical element, in the optical transmission medium, the peeling of the adhesive is reduced, and Also, since the adhesive is hardly peeled off, the connection loss due to the misalignment or the misalignment of the optical fiber in the optical connection portion can be suppressed, and the reliability in long-term use is high.

[0029]

Next, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

Embodiment 1 First, one end of each of the eight optical fibers is removed by removing the primary coating and the secondary coating over one end of the eight cores in the longitudinal direction over a predetermined range. Naked over the length of. The exposed end faces of the eight optical fibers correspond to the optical connection end faces. Further, a holder made of a glass optical fiber fixing member and a glass pressing member was prepared. The above-described optical fiber fixing member has an optical fiber fixing portion having an optical fiber positioning portion formed on an upper surface, and a pedestal portion connected to the optical fiber fixing portion. The optical fiber positioning portion is composed of eight grooves parallel to each other, and each groove has a V-shaped cross-sectional shape in the width direction (hereinafter, these grooves are each referred to as a “V-groove”). Further, the pedestal portion is a region for holding the end of the tape fiber on the side where the optical fiber is exposed, together with the covering portion, and the upper surface of the pedestal portion is formed at a position one step lower than the optical fiber positioning portion. ing.

On the other hand, the pressing member is made of a flat plate,
The shape of the holding member in plan view (the shape of the holding member as viewed in the thickness direction) is the shape of the optical fiber fixing portion of the optical fiber fixing member in plan view (looking down the optical fiber positioning portion). Of the optical fiber fixing portion in this manner). The width of the holding member in a front view (width when viewed from the optical connection side end face when assembled to the holder) is equal to the width in front view of the optical fiber fixing portion (light when assembled to the holder). (Width when viewed from the connection side end surface).

Next, (A) a primary polishing treatment step, (B) a curing acceleration step, (C) a secondary polishing treatment step, and (D) a complete curing treatment step are sequentially performed in the following manner to obtain an optical transmission with a holder. The media was manufactured.

(A) Primary Polishing Step FIG. 1A is a schematic view showing the tape fiber and the holder in the primary polishing step of the present embodiment, as viewed from the optical connection side end face. FIG. 1B is a right side view when FIG. 1A is a front view. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, the upper surface of the optical fiber fixing portion 1a (including the surface of each V groove 1c) and the upper surface of the pedestal portion 1b are commercially available, respectively. After the epoxy adhesive 2 is applied, one end of each of the eight optical fibers 3a exposed from the tape fiber 3 is engaged with each of the eight V grooves 1c.
The holding member 4 was placed thereon, and the holding member 4 and the optical fiber fixing member 1 were fastened by a jig (not shown). The end of the tape fiber 3 (the end on the side where the optical fiber 3a was exposed) was placed on the upper surface of the base 1b.

In this state, the adhesive 2 was irradiated with ultraviolet rays having a predetermined wavelength to cure the adhesive 2 to a desired cured state (a state of elasticity without being completely cured). As a result, each of the eight optical fibers 3a was temporarily fixed to the holder 5 including the optical fiber fixing member 1 and the holding member 4. The adhesive 2 is a type of adhesive that is cured by irradiation with ultraviolet light having a predetermined wavelength and also cured by heating. Prior to use, the relationship between the curing conditions and the cured state of the adhesive 2 was confirmed in advance by experiments.

Next, after the jig is removed, the temporarily fixed member to be polished is mounted on the holder of the end surface polishing jig, and the optical connection side end surface F ₁ of each optical fiber 3a (FIG. 1).
(A) and refer to FIG. 1 (b)) and the end face of the holder optical connection side end face of the 5 (the end surface F ₁ side) F ₂ (Fig. 1
(A) and FIG. 1 (b)) were subjected to primary polishing using a glass polishing machine. The polishing process is performed so that the optical connection side end faces newly formed on the optical fiber and the holder respectively by the polishing process are located on substantially the same plane, and the newly formed light 8 with respect to the plane passing through the ends of the optical connection side each connection side end face of the lower surface of a plane perpendicular to the optical axis optical fiber fixing part 1a of the optical fiber 3a (the optical connection side end surface F ₂ side) °
I went to lean backwards.

(B) Hardening Acceleration Step The optical connection side end face F ₂ of the holder 5, which has been subjected to the primary polishing in the above step (A) and is attached to the end face polishing jig, and is temporarily fixed to the holder 5. and has an optical connection end face F ₁ of the optical fibers 3a, by contacting a predetermined time to the heating body is heated to a predetermined temperature to accelerate curing of the adhesive of the vicinity of the facet.

[0037] (C) after subjected to secondary polishing step (B) above step, the optical connection side end surface F ₂ of the optical connection side end surface F ₁ and retainer 5 of the optical fiber 3a, the glass polishing machine two Next, polishing was performed to finish the optical connection end face.

(D) Complete curing step After the above step (C), each optical fiber 3a and the holder 5 are placed in a heat treatment furnace while being attached to an end-face polishing jig, and are placed at a predetermined temperature at a predetermined temperature. The adhesive 2 was substantially completely cured by heat treatment for a time. By taking out the optical transmission medium from the end surface polishing jig, an intended optical transmission medium with a holder was obtained. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram when the optical transmission medium with the holder obtained in this way is viewed from the same viewpoint as that in FIG. 1B. Reference numeral 10 in FIG. 2 denotes the optical transmission medium with the holder, and reference numeral 2a
Is an adhesive substantially fully cured, single code F ₁₀ is the primary, the optical connection side end surface newly formed on the optical fiber 3a through the secondary polishing step, reference numeral F ₁₁ above the polishing step Indicate optical connection side end faces newly formed on the holder 5. Optical transmission medium 1 with holder
Regarding the members constituting 0 (excluding the adhesive 2a), the same reference numerals as those shown in FIG. 1 are assigned irrespective of whether the shape is changed by the polishing process.

The optical connection side end faces F ₁₀ and F ₁₁ of the optical transmission medium 10 with the holder are planes perpendicular to the optical axis of the optical fiber 3a and are the ends on the optical connection side on the lower surface of the optical fiber fixing portion 1a. Is inclined backward by 8 ° with respect to a plane S passing through the plane. In the optical transmission medium 10 with a holder manufactured in the present embodiment, the adhesive 2a layer fixing the holder 5 and the optical fiber 3a to each other is observed with an optical microscope at a magnification of 50 to 500 times. When the peeled area of the layer 2a was determined, the peeled area was 0%.

The “peeling area” is defined as the holder 5
When the optical fiber 3a fixed to the holder 5 and the optical fiber 3a are viewed in a plan view, that is, the optical fiber positioning portion (eight V-grooves 1) formed in the optical fiber fixing member 1a is viewed.
c) Looking down on the holder 5 and the optical fiber 3a fixed to the holder 5 from directly above, the area of the adhesive 2a layer as a denominator, and the adhesive when viewed in a plan view. The percentage of the area of the exfoliated adhesive 2a layer, which is obtained by determining the area of the exfoliated portion in the 2a layer as a molecule, is meant.

Comparative Example 1 At the stage of the step (A), the adhesive was substantially completely cured.
Thereafter, a polishing process was performed, and an optical transmission medium with a holder was manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1 except that no process was performed after the polishing process. In this case, the amount of the adhesive used was the same as in Example 1. The peeled area of the adhesive layer of the optical transmission medium with the holder in the same manner as in Example 1 was 25%.

Environmental Test I The optical transmission media with holders manufactured in Example 1 and Comparative Example 1 were placed in an environmental tester maintained at a temperature of 75 ° C. and a humidity of 90% RH, and after 100 hours and 500 hours. The peeled area of the adhesive layer was determined in the same manner as in Example 1.
Table 1 shows the results.

[0043]

[Table 1]

As is clear from the results of the environmental test I shown in Table 1, in the optical transmission medium with the holder of Example 1 manufactured according to the method of the present invention, the peeled area immediately after the manufacture was 0%. %, Temperature 75 ° C, humidity 90% R
Even after being placed in a high-temperature and high-humidity environment of H for 100 hours, the peeled area is as small as 20%. Furthermore, even after being placed in the high-temperature, high-humidity environment for 500 hours, the peeled area is as small as 45%.

On the other hand, in the optical transmission medium with the holder of Comparative Example 1 manufactured by the conventional method, the peeled area immediately after the manufacture was as large as 25%, and the temperature was 75 ° C.
After 100 hours in a high-temperature, high-humidity environment of 90% RH, the peeled area reaches 40%. further,
After 500 hours in the high-temperature, high-humidity environment, the peeled area is as large as 75%. As can be easily inferred from the above results, by manufacturing the optical transmission medium with the holder by the method of the present invention, it is possible to obtain an optical transmission medium with the holder having high reliability in long-term use. .

Environmental Test II First, light incident from one input port can be split and output from each of the eight output ports.
A commercially available optical fiber array is optically connected to the input side of the × 8 branch optical waveguide element, and an optical transmission medium with a holder manufactured under the same conditions as in Example 1 is optically connected to the output side.
An 8-beam splitter was manufactured (hereinafter, this beam splitter is referred to as “beam splitter A”). Similarly, a commercially available optical fiber array is optically connected to the input side of the 1 × 8 branch optical waveguide element, and an optical transmission medium with a holder manufactured under the same conditions as in Comparative Example 1 is optically connected to the output side. A 1 × 8 beam splitter was manufactured (hereinafter, this beam splitter is referred to as “beam splitter B”).

Next, with respect to the beam splitter A and the beam splitter B, when predetermined light (hereinafter, this light is referred to as “test light”) is incident from the incident side, eight ports (light guides) on the exit side are used. The intensity of each output light emitted from each of the eight optical fibers optically connected to the output port of the waveguide element (one end of each of the eight optical fibers) was measured (hereinafter, the intensity of each output light is referred to as “initial intensity”).

Thereafter, the beam splitter A and the beam splitter B are placed in a high-temperature and high-humidity environment at a temperature of 75 ° C. and a humidity of 90% RH.
After 00 hours, 500 hours, 1000 hours and 20 hours
00 hours later, for each of the beam splitter A and the beam splitter B, the intensity of each of the outgoing light emitted from each of the eight ports on the outgoing side when the test light was made to enter from the incoming side was measured (hereinafter, these are referred to as these. The intensity is referred to as "measured intensity" at each port.) Then, the beam splitter A and the beam splitter B
For each of them, the absolute value of the difference between the above-mentioned emission intensity and the above-mentioned initial intensity was obtained for each of the eight ports on the emission side (hereinafter, this value is referred to as “loss variation amount”). Table 2 shows the results.

[0049]

[Table 2]

As is clear from the results of the environmental test II shown in Table 2, in the beam splitter A using the optical transmission medium with the holder of Example 1 manufactured according to the method of the present invention, the beam splitter A was used. Even after A is placed in a high-temperature and high-humidity environment of a temperature of 75 ° C. and a humidity of 90% RH for 2000 hours, the loss fluctuation amount at each of the eight ports on the emission side is small, less than 0.1 dB.

On the other hand, in the beam splitter B using the optical transmission medium with the holder according to Comparative Example 1 manufactured by the conventional method, the beam splitter B was operated at a high temperature and high humidity of 75 ° C. and 90% RH. 500 below
The time variation alone caused the loss fluctuation amount at each of the eight ports on the emission side to exceed 0.6 dB, resulting in substantial failure.

[0052]

According to the method of the present invention, the holder and the optical fiber are integrated via the adhesive, and the occurrence of peeling at the interface between the adhesive and the member to be bonded is suppressed. A highly reliable optical transmission medium with a holder having an optical connection end face can be efficiently manufactured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram illustrating a state in which a tape fiber and a holder are viewed from their optical connection side end faces in a primary polishing process in Example 1, and FIG.
FIG. 1B is a right side view when FIG. 1A is a front view.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the optical transmission medium with a holder manufactured in Example 1 when viewed from the same perspective as that in FIG. 1B.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 optical fiber fixing member 1a optical fiber fixing portion 1b pedestal portion 1c optical fiber positioning portion 2 adhesive 2a substantially completely cured adhesive 3 tape fiber 3a optical fiber 4 holding member 5 holder 10 optical transmission with holder Medium

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Yoshiatsu Yokoo 2-7-5 Nakaochiai, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo F-term in Hoya Corporation (reference) 2H037 AA01 BA02 BA11 BA35 DA04 DA06 DA12 DA17

Claims (6)

[Claims] An end face of an optical fiber is fixed to an optical fiber holder with an adhesive, and an end face of the optical fiber and an end face of the optical fiber holding section on the same side are polished to thereby form an optical connection end face of an optical transmission medium. And (A) polishing the end face of the optical fiber and the end face of the optical fiber holder in a state in which the adhesive has elasticity without being completely cured. A primary polishing treatment step, (B) a curing acceleration step of at least accelerating the curing of the adhesive near each end face polished in the (A) step, and (C) a curing acceleration in the (B) step.
A method of manufacturing an optical transmission medium with a holder, comprising sequentially performing a secondary polishing step of polishing the end surface of the optical fiber and the end surface of the optical fiber holder to finish the optical connection end surface of the optical transmission medium. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the secondary polishing treatment in the step (C), the curing is accelerated in the step (B) until the end face of the optical transmission medium has a hardness such that the end face of the optical transmission medium can be finished as an optical connection end face. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein in step (B), the curing of the adhesive is accelerated by heating. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the adhesive is accelerated by bringing the end face of the optical transmission medium attached to the end face polishing jig into contact with the heating element. 5. The polishing process according to claim 1, wherein in the step (A), polishing is performed so that the end face of the optical transmission medium is inclined backward by 5 to 15 ° with respect to a vertical plane perpendicular to the optical fiber optical axis. The method described in the section. 6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, after the secondary polishing step (C), further performing (D) a complete curing step of completely curing the adhesive.