JP2006007380A - Tweezers - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that when a prismatic component such as an element for an optical isolator is gripped by using tweezers, it is difficult to grip it in parallel to a corner part, and also, it is highly likely to generate chipping and cracking by the application of force to the corner part. <P>SOLUTION: The tweezers are used for gripping the prismatic component 5 by closing and bringing a pair of oppositely arranged gripping parts 3 into contact with each other. The tip of one gripping part 3b is formed into a curved face shape protruding inward. At least the inside of the tip of the other gripping part 3a is formed into a flat-shape. Consequently, the tweezers can be used for gripping in a state of point contact, and also, can effectively prevent the occurrence of chipping and cracking. Further, the tweezers can be used for gripping a magnetized prismatic component by making the gripping parts and a guide member into a non-magnetic body. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to tweezers for gripping a prismatic part that is extremely small and easily cracked or cracked.

  As for tweezers used when gripping a gripped part such as various prismatic parts, various shapes of gripping parts have been proposed according to the use and purpose of the gripped part.

  As shown in FIG. 5 (a), these tweezers have a connecting and fixing portion 1 at one end, a grip portion 22 continuous with the connecting and fixing portion 1, and a grip consisting of a pair of gripping portions 33a and 33b at the tip thereof. It has a portion 33 and grips a prismatic part or the like by applying a reversible and temporary closing force to the gripping portion 33 (see Patent Document 1).

  For example, when gripping an extremely small prismatic component such as an optical isolator element, the grip portion 33 is devised in various shapes.

  In the tweezers as shown in FIG. 5 (b), a V-shaped groove 34 is formed at the tip of one gripping portion 33a of the pair of gripping portions 33, and the other gripping portion 33b is a flat plate. An optical isolator element to be gripped is inserted and gripped (see Patent Document 2).

Further, in the tweezers shown in FIG. 5 (c), the concave grooves 35 are formed at the opposed positions at the tips of the gripping portions 33a and 33b, so that the gap formed when the gripping portion 33 is closed is lightened. It is possible to insert and hold an isolator element (see Patent Document 3).
Special table 2003-530223 gazette JP 2000-210876 A JP 2000-210876 A

  However, when gripping a prismatic part such as an optical isolator element using tweezers as shown in FIGS. 5B and 5C, the V-shaped groove 34 or the concave groove 35 is used for a very small optical isolator. In order to align the elements, it is necessary to align the V-shaped groove 34 or the concave groove 35 with the corners of the optical isolator element. However, since the height of the optical isolator element is as small as about 0.46 mm, There is a problem that it is difficult to grip in parallel to the portion, and force is applied to the corner portion, so that cracks and cracks are likely to occur.

  Even if the shape of the corners of the V-shaped groove 34 or the concave groove 35 and the optical isolator element does not match, if the angle of the V-shaped groove 34 or the concave groove 35 is small, the side surface of the optical isolator element It is easy to generate cracks and cracks.

  Further, when holding the optical isolator element, it is not possible to hold a fixed position by avoiding a portion of the polarizer where cracks or cracks are particularly likely to occur.

  The tweezers of the present invention is a tweezers for gripping a prismatic component by closing and closing a pair of opposing gripping portions, and has a curved shape with the tip of one gripping portion protruding inward, and at least the other gripping portion The inside of the tip is flat.

  Further, the tweezers of the present invention is characterized in that a guide member having a desired height is attached to the outside of the distal end portion of the pair of gripping portions, protruding from the distal end surface of each gripping portion.

  Furthermore, the tweezers of the present invention is characterized in that the tip of the one gripping portion is spherical.

  Furthermore, the tweezers of the present invention is characterized in that the grip part or the grip part and the guide member are made of a non-magnetic material.

  Furthermore, the tweezers of the present invention is characterized in that the prismatic part is an optical isolator element.

  According to the tweezers of the present invention, the tip of one gripping part has a curved shape protruding inward, and the inside of at least the tip of the other gripping part has a flat shape. Columnar parts can be safely gripped.

  In addition, according to the tweezers of the present invention, since the guide member that protrudes from the tip surface of each gripping part and has a desired height is attached to the outside of the tip part of the pair of gripping parts, the prismatic part is always provided. Can be held at the same height, so that the holding position can be fixed.

  Furthermore, according to the tweezers of the present invention, since the tip of the one gripping part is spherical, the side surface of the prismatic part to be gripped is contacted at a point, and the other gripping part is flat. Therefore, the side surface of the prismatic component is brought into contact with the flat gripping portion in parallel, and the prismatic component is gripped.

  Furthermore, according to the tweezers of the present invention, since the grip part or the grip part and the guide member are made of a nonmagnetic material, the magnetized prismatic part can be gripped.

  Furthermore, in the tweezers of the present invention, since the prismatic part is an optical isolator element, the gripping position is constant, and gripping according to the polarization direction can be performed.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIGS. 1A and 1B are a front view and a plan view, respectively, showing an embodiment of the tweezers of the present invention. As shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b), the tweezers of the present invention temporarily and reversibly has a pair of gripping portions 3a and 3b opposed to each other by gripping portions 2a and 2b forming a distal end portion by a pressure by a technique. In this way, an extremely small prismatic component such as an optical isolator element, a polarizer, a Faraday rotator, a glass substrate or the like is gripped.

  Here, in the tweezers of the present invention, it is important that the tip of one gripping portion 3b has a curved shape protruding inward, and at least the inside of the tip of the other gripping portion 3a is flat.

  Thus, as shown in enlarged views of the gripping portions 3a and 3b in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the gripping portion 3b can grip the side surface of the prismatic component 5 by point contact, Since the grip portion 3a is flat, the side surfaces of the prismatic component 5 are contacted in parallel, and the prismatic component 5 can be stably gripped.

  The tip of the grip portion 3b has a curved surface shape such as a hemisphere, a cone, or a pyramid, and is preferably spherical. As a result, a vertical force can be applied to the flat gripping portion 3a regardless of the angle at which the gripping portion 3b contacts the prismatic component 5.

  The other gripping portion 3a has a flatness with a flatness of 0.2 mm or less, and can be brought into contact with the side surface of the prismatic component 5 to be gripped in parallel. In addition, since the flat portion of the grip portion 3a is parallel to the side surface of the prismatic component 5, it is possible to effectively prevent the occurrence of cracks and cracks. Furthermore, the flat part of the gripping part 3a is set to be equal to or greater than the width of the side surface of the prismatic part 5 to be gripped, and the spherical part of the gripping part 3b is made to the gripped prismatic part 5 by flattening the surface to grip the prismatic part 5 The top surface angle can be changed to the fulcrum.

  Furthermore, the gripping portions 3a and 3b are preferably formed from a non-magnetic material such as titanium or stainless steel, and can be easily processed even when a groove is formed on the surface that grips the curved or prismatic component 5. it can. In particular, titanium that is lightweight is more preferable.

  In the tweezers of the present invention, guide members 4a and 4b that protrude from the distal end surfaces of the gripping portions 3a and 3b and have a desired height H are respectively taken outside the distal end portions of the pair of gripping portions 3a and 3b. It is preferable to wear.

  Thus, by attaching the circular guide member 4 that protrudes from the front end surfaces of the gripping portions 3a and 3b and is processed according to the height of the prismatic component to be gripped, a fixed position is always obtained in the prismatic component 5. It can be gripped with. In particular, when this prismatic component 5 is an optical isolator element, it is necessary to grip the Faraday rotator portion at the center of the optical isolator element. It is necessary to use one that matches the position.

  The guide members 4a and 4b are preferably made of non-magnetic titanium, stainless steel or the like, like the grip portions 3a and 3b, and have a circular shape and a height as shown in FIG. H and the protrusion amount T from the front end surface need to be matched to the height of the gripping position in the prismatic component 5. Further, since the guide member 4 is fixed to the grip portion 3 and needs to be processed to a height that matches the prismatic component to be gripped, titanium, which is lightweight and easy to process, is more preferable.

  Further, since the guide members 4a and 4b need to be changed depending on the position at which the prismatic part 5 to be gripped is gripped, it is preferable that the guide members 4a and 4b are fixed to the gripping portions 3a and 3b with screws and attached. More preferably. Moreover, in order to fix with high positional accuracy, it is preferable to fix one grip part 3a, 3b with two screws.

  Furthermore, in order to reduce the deviation between the gripping portions 3a and 3b and the guide members 4a and 4b, the same groove as the side shape of the gripping portions 3a and 3b is formed on the side of the guide members 4a and 4b connected to the gripping portions 3a and 3b. Is preferably formed. For example, when the optical isolator element is 0.6 mm in length, 0.5 mm in width, and 0.46 mm in height, the height H and the protrusion amount T of the guide members 4a and 4b are preferably 0.23 mm.

  Furthermore, in order to always hold the prismatic component 5 at a constant height as shown in FIG. 2B, the distances from the tip surfaces of the grip portions 3a and 3b to the tips of the guide members 4a and 4b are made equal. Since it is necessary, the equation of H = T needs to be established for the height H of the guide members 4a and 4b and the protrusion amount T from the front end surface. When the above relationship is established, the prismatic component can be always held at a fixed position regardless of the angle at which the prismatic component is held. Therefore, it is preferable that the shape of the guide members 4a and 4b is not only a circular shape but also a semicircular shape that satisfies the above relationship, as shown by the guide member 4 in FIG.

  Further, it is preferable that the tips of the guide members 4a and 4b are tapered toward the inside of the tweezers in order to accurately grip the ultra-small prismatic component 5 such as an optical isolator element.

  Such tweezers are preferably used particularly when gripping an optical isolator element.

Hereinafter, the optical isolator element will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an optical fiber with an optical isolator. In order to integrate the optical isolator element 20, the permanent magnet 26 and the end of the optical fiber 29, the optical isolator element 20 is connected to the capillary in the ferrule 28. 27 It has a structure in which it is bonded and fixed directly to the polished end face. In an optical communication module or the like, light emitted from a light source such as a laser light source is incident on various optical elements or optical fibers, but a part of the incident light is reflected on the end surfaces or inside of the various optical elements or optical fibers. It is scattered. A part of the reflected or scattered light tries to return to the light source as return light, and an optical isolator is used to prevent the return light. The optical isolator is configured by installing a flat Faraday rotator between two polarizers and storing these three components in a cylindrical magnet via a component holder. Normally, the Faraday rotator is adjusted to a thickness that rotates the polarization plane of light having a predetermined wavelength in the saturation magnetic field by 45 °, and the two polarizers rotate so that their transmission polarization directions are shifted by 45 ° in the rotation direction. Coordinated and configured.

  Next, a method for manufacturing the optical isolator element 20 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, an approximately 11 mm square polarizer substrate 22, a Faraday rotator substrate 23, and a polarizer substrate 24 are bonded and integrated. Here, the transmission polarization direction of the polarizer substrate 22 is set to a direction parallel to one side, and the transmission polarization direction of the polarizer substrate 24 is set to a direction of 45 degrees on one side. Each optical substrate is fixed by adhering the polarizer substrate 22, the Faraday rotator 23, and the polarizer substrate 24 so that one side of each is parallel. Further, as described above, an optically transparent resin is used as an adhesive for bonding and integrating the optical elements, and generally an epoxy or acrylic organic adhesive is used.

  Next, as shown in FIGS. 4C and 4D, the optical isolator element substrate 25 is processed into a large number of chip-shaped optical isolator elements 20 by dicing or the like.

  Such an optical isolator element 20 is cut into a very small size and has polarizers 22 and 24 that are prone to cracks and cracks. Therefore, by using the above-described tweezers, the tip has a curved surface. By gripping with the part 3, it is possible to grip without generating burrs and cracks.

  Further, when the optical isolator element 20 is bonded to the capillary 27, the optical isolator element is used with the gripping part 3b and the gripping part 3a as fulcrums so that the optical isolator element 20 can be bonded in parallel to the inclined capillary 27. Since it is necessary to be able to change the angle of the upper surface of the element 20, it is preferable that the inner surface at the tip of the grip portion 3a is flat.

  Furthermore, when the optical isolator element 20 is gripped, the Faraday rotator is magnetic, so if a non-magnetic material is not used, the optical isolator element 20 will adhere to the tweezers, making the operation difficult. For this reason, the holding part including the guide members 4a and 4b or the entire tweezers needs to be made of a non-magnetic material (titanium, stainless steel, ceramic, plastic, etc.). Further, since the tip width of the gripping portion 3 needs to be narrowed in order to grip the optical isolator element 20, it is preferable to use titanium in which the tip of the gripping portion is easily processed and the tip does not break.

  Furthermore, since the optical isolator element 20 is extremely small (length 0.6 mm, width 0.5 mm, height 0.86 mm), the tip width of the grip portion 3 excluding the guide members 4a and 4b is the component to be gripped. It is necessary to make it smaller than 0.5 mm.

  Next, examples of the present invention will be described.

  As the tweezers of the embodiment of the present invention, the material is titanium, the tip width of the gripping portion 3 is 0.2 mm, the tip of the gripping portion 3b is spherical with a diameter of 0.2 mm, and the flatness of the gripping portion 3a is 0.2 mm or less. The guide member made of titanium has a height of 0.43 mm.

  In addition, as the tweezers of the conventional example, the material is titanium and the shape of both grip portions is flat. The tip width of the grip portion of the conventional tweezers is 0.2 mm, and the flatness is 0.2 mm or less.

  In the present invention, an optical isolator element is used as the prismatic component 5 as shown in FIG. The optical isolator element has a length of 0.6 mm, a width of 0.5 mm, and a height of 0.86 mm, a polarizer thickness of 0.2 mm, and a Faraday rotator of 0.46 mm.

  Fifty optical isolator elements were gripped using each tweezers, and the ease of gripping at that time, and cracks and cracks generated in the optical isolator elements were observed.

  As a result, in the embodiment of the present invention, by setting the height H of the guide member to 0.43 mm, it is possible to avoid gripping the polarizer portion where cracks and cracks are likely to occur, grip the Faraday rotator, and optical isolator It was possible to grip without forcing the corners of the device to be sharp. In addition, since one of the gripping portions is curved and gripped at a point, the top surface angle of the isolator element can be easily changed using the gripping portion as a fulcrum. The optical isolator element 20 could be bonded in parallel to the capillary 27 thus formed.

  On the other hand, in the conventional example, the corners, the upper surface, and the lower surface of the polarizer of the optical isolator element were gripped, resulting in 38 pieces of cracks and cracks. Further, since the gripping part for gripping the optical isolator element 20 is flat and grips the part, the gripped part is firmly fixed, and it is not easy to change the upper surface angle of the gripped optical isolator element 20. It was difficult to join the inclined capillary 27. Furthermore, when the corner of the optical isolator element 20 was gripped, the optical isolator element 20 gripped when the upper surface angle was changed was displaced from the gripping part and dropped by 28 pieces.

(A) is a front view which shows one Embodiment of the tweezers of this invention, (b) is the top view. (A) is the enlarged front view of the holding part at the time of holding | grip a prismatic component with the tweezers in FIG. 1, (b) is the top view. It is sectional drawing which shows an optical fiber with an optical isolator. (A)-(d) is a perspective view which shows the manufacturing method of the element for optical isolators. (A)-(c) is a front view which shows the conventional tweezers.

Explanation of symbols

1: Connection fixing part 2, 2a, 2b, 22: Grip part 3, 3a, 3b, 33, 33a, 33b: Grasping part 4, 4a, 4b: Guide member 5: prismatic part, optical isolator elements 5a, 5b : Prismatic component corner 20: optical isolator element 22, 24: polarizer substrate 23: Faraday rotator 25: optical isolator element substrate 26: permanent magnet 27: capillary 28: ferrule 29: optical fiber

Claims (5)

A pair of tweezers that grips a prismatic part by closing a pair of opposing gripping parts. The tip of one gripping part has a curved shape protruding inward, and at least the inside of the other gripping part is flat. Tweezers characterized by making 2. The tweezers according to claim 1, wherein a guide member having a desired height is attached to the outside of the distal end portions of the pair of gripping portions. The tweezers according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a tip of the one gripping part is spherical. The tweezers according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the grip part, or the grip part and the guide member are made of a non-magnetic material. The tweezers according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the prismatic component is an optical isolator element.

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