JP2011053303A - Optical element module, optical transceiver, and optical active cable - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical transceiver that can be reduced in the number of components while increasing efficiency of optical coupling between an optical element and an optical fiber, and can be reduced in the cost. <P>SOLUTION: The optical transceiver includes: a mirror member 9 with a lens, which has a mirror body 7 having an approximately right-angle triangular cross-section disposed on an optical element 4 and has a lens 8 formed on a light-entering face or a light-exiting face of the mirror body 7; an optical connector 10 disposed at an end of an optical fiber array 6; and an optical path-converting optical waveguide member 13 with a lens, which has an optical waveguide 11 connecting a substrate 3 and the optical connector 10 and aligning the optical axes of the optical fiber array 6 of the optical connector 10 and of the lens 8 of the mirror member 9 with a lens, and has a lens 12 formed on the light-entering end face or light-exiting end face of the optical waveguide 11. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical element module, an optical transceiver, and an optical active cable for mutually converting an electric signal and an optical signal between an optical element mounted on a substrate and an optical fiber array.

  In optical communication, an electrical signal is converted into an optical signal by a light emitting element mounted on one optical transceiver module, the converted optical signal is transmitted using an optical fiber, and the transmitted optical signal is transmitted and received on the other optical transceiver. High-speed communication is enabled by converting the light signal again into an electric signal by the light receiving element mounted on the module.

  An optical transceiver is used as an optical transmission / reception module for mutual conversion between an electrical signal and an optical signal.

  As a conventional optical transceiver, one end is electrically connected so that it can be inserted into and removed from an electrical connector provided in an electronic device, a light emitting element and a light receiving element (optical element) mounted on the substrate, and a light emitting element and a light receiving element In some cases, two optical fibers connected to each other are accommodated in a case (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In this optical transceiver, an electrical signal from an electronic device is converted into an optical signal by a light emitting element and emitted to an optical fiber for transmission. On the other hand, the optical signal received by the receiving optical fiber is converted into an electrical signal by the light receiving element and sent to the electronic device. In this manner, the optical transceiver can perform mutual conversion between an electrical signal and an optical signal at the same time.

  In order to reduce the size of an optical transceiver, a light emitting element and a light receiving element are separately mounted on the front and back surfaces of a substrate (for example, see Patent Document 2).

JP-A-9-171127 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-133661 JP 2009-103877 A JP 2005-173043 A

  By the way, in order to optically couple an optical fiber for transmission / reception to an optical element, conventionally, the light incident / exit end face of the optical fiber is directly optically coupled to the optical element, or the incident / exit light is condensed to improve the reliability of optical coupling. In order to reduce the thickness of the optical transceiver, a mirror for converting the optical axis of the optical element in parallel to the substrate surface is provided separately, and optical coupling is performed therethrough. Has been done.

  However, the method of directly optically coupling the optical element and the optical fiber has a problem that it is difficult to align the optical axes and the optical coupling efficiency is inferior. In addition, in the method in which a lens is integrally formed on an optical element and optical coupling is performed via a separately provided mirror, the optical coupling efficiency can be improved and the optical transceiver can be thinned. However, there is a problem that the number of parts increases, resulting in an increase in cost for the optical transceiver.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an optical element module, an optical transceiver, and an optical active cable that can reduce the number of parts while improving the efficiency of optical coupling between an optical element and an optical fiber and can reduce costs. There is.

  The present invention has been devised to achieve the above object, and the invention of claim 1 includes an optical element comprising a light emitting element or a light receiving element, a mirror main body having a reflecting surface and a side surface section having a substantially right triangle shape. A lens that collimates or condenses the optical signal from the optical element or the optical signal to the optical element, and the lens is integrated with one optical signal incident surface or optical signal output surface of the mirror body. And an optical element module in which the optical element is integrally formed on the other optical signal incident surface or optical signal output surface of the mirror body.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a case, a substrate housed in the case and electrically connected to an electrical connector provided at one end of the electronic device so as to be insertable / removable, and housed in the case and front and back surfaces of the substrate A light-emitting element and a light-receiving element mounted so that the optical axis is in a direction perpendicular to the front and back surfaces of the substrate, and an optical fiber array provided outside the case on the other end side of the substrate, The optical connector includes an optical connector that holds the optical axis of the light incident end face or light outgoing end face of the optical fiber array so that the optical axis is parallel to the front and back surfaces of the substrate, a mirror body having a substantially right-angled triangle cross section, and light input to the mirror body. A lens-attached mirror member having a lens formed on the exit surface and formed integrally with the light-emitting element and the light-receiving element; the optical fiber array of the optical connector; and the front of the lens-attached mirror member And the optical path converting optical waveguide provided between the lens, an optical transceiver with a.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the optical path conversion optical waveguide member is formed of a flexible optical waveguide, a substrate with a lens integrally formed with a lens on a transparent substrate, and a block main body divided into a plurality of blocks. A curved surface is formed on the surface, and the flexible optical waveguide is sandwiched between the curved surfaces of the block body, and the lens of the substrate with the lens is on the optical axis of the light incident end surface or the light emitting end surface of the flexible optical waveguide. The optical transceiver according to claim 2, wherein the optical transceiver is attached so as to be located at a position.

  The invention according to claim 4 is the optical transceiver according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the light emitting element and the light receiving element are arrayed optical elements.

  The invention according to claim 5 is an optical active cable characterized in that the optical transceiver according to any one of claims 2 to 4 is optically connected to both ends of the optical fiber array.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the number of parts while improving the efficiency of optical coupling between the optical element and the optical fiber, and to reduce the cost.

It is side surface sectional drawing (schematic diagram) which shows the optical transceiver which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the optical connector and optical path change optical waveguide with a lens which are used for the optical transceiver of FIG. 1, (a) is a top view, (b) is a front view. (A)-(d) is a figure which shows the manufacture procedure of the optical path change optical waveguide with a lens of FIG. It is a figure which shows the optical connector of the optical transceiver which concerns on the modification of this invention. (A)-(d) is a figure which shows the manufacture procedure of the optical path change optical waveguide with a lens of the optical transceiver which concerns on the modification of this invention. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the optical active cable using the optical transceiver of FIG.

  Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a side sectional view (schematic diagram) showing an optical transceiver according to the present embodiment.

  An optical transceiver is an optical transceiver module that converts an electrical signal into an optical signal and outputs the optical signal, and converts an input optical signal into an electrical signal.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the optical transceiver 1 according to the present embodiment has a substrate 3 electrically connected so that one end 2 can be inserted into and removed from an electrical connector (not shown) provided in an electronic device (not shown). The optical element 4 is mounted on the front and back surfaces, and the optical fiber array 6 disposed on the other end 5 side of the substrate 3 is optically and mechanically connected to the optical element 4.

  For this purpose, the optical transceiver 1 has a mirror body 7 having a substantially right-angled triangular cross section provided on the optical element 4 and a lens 8 formed on the light incident surface or light exit surface of the mirror body 7. A mirror member with lens 9, an optical connector 10 provided at an end of the optical fiber array 6, and an optical waveguide that matches the optical axes of the optical fiber array 6 of the optical connector 10 and the lens 8 of the mirror member 9 with lens. 11 and a lens-attached optical path conversion optical waveguide member 13 having a lens 12 formed on the light incident end face or light exit end face of the optical waveguide 11.

  Connection terminals 14 are formed on the front and back surfaces of the one end 2 of the substrate 3 to constitute a card edge connector 15. By inserting the card edge connector 15 into an electrical connector provided in the electronic device, the electronic device and the optical transceiver 1 are electrically connected. The connection terminal 14 may be formed only on either the front surface or the back surface of the one end 2 of the substrate 3.

  The optical element 4 is provided on the front and back surfaces of the substrate 3, one side (front side in the figure) is a light emitting element 16 made of LD (Laser Diode) or the like, and the other (back side in the figure) is from a photodiode or the like. This is the light receiving element 17. A plurality of the light emitting elements 16 and the light receiving elements 17 are arranged in parallel on the front and back surfaces of the substrate 3 in an array at predetermined intervals (in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface). In the present embodiment, four light emitting elements 16 and four light receiving elements 17 are arranged in parallel in an array.

  Each light emitting element 16 is for converting an electrical signal from an electronic device into an optical signal and outputting it to the outside, and each light receiving element 17 converts an optical signal input from the outside into an electrical signal for use in the electronic device. It is for transmission. Each light emitting element 16 and each light receiving element 17 are mounted on the front surface or the back surface of the substrate 3 as an optical element module in which the mirror member 9 with lens is integrally formed (the structure of the mirror member 9 with lens will be described later). .

  A driver 18 for driving and controlling the light emitting element 16 is mounted on the front surface of the substrate 3, and an amplifier 19 for amplifying the electric signal converted by the light receiving element 17 is mounted on the back surface of the substrate 3.

  The optical fiber array 6 includes a total of 8 optical fibers 6a formed by arranging a plurality of (four in this embodiment) optical fibers 6a in parallel at a pitch of, for example, 250 μm, and two upper and lower tape optical fibers 6b. This is a core optical fiber array 6. As the optical fiber 6a constituting the optical fiber array 6, an optical fiber having a core diameter of 50 μm is used in this embodiment, but a single mode optical fiber, a dispersion shifted optical fiber, or the like can also be used.

  Next, the structure of the lens-attached mirror member 9 will be described.

  The lens-attached mirror member 9 is for converting the optical axis of the light emitting element 16 or the light receiving element 17 by 90 ° in a direction parallel to the substrate surface.

  As described above, the lens-equipped mirror member 9 includes the mirror main body 7 having a substantially right-angled triangular cross section provided on the optical element 4 and the lens 8 formed on the light incident / exit surface of the mirror main body 7. Have.

  The mirror body 7 is formed such that a cross section of a side surface having an inclined surface 7a that forms an angle of 45 ° with a horizontal plane (front and back surfaces of the substrate 3) is formed into a substantially right triangle shape, and light emitted from the light emitting element 16 (or light reception) on the inclined surface 7a. The incident light on the element 17 is reflected. That is, the optical axis of the light emitting element 16 or the light receiving element 17 is converted by 90 ° in a direction parallel to the substrate surface.

  The lens 8 is formed on the optical axis of the light emitting element 16 or the light receiving element 17 converted by 90 ° by the mirror body 7, and condenses the emitted light from the light emitting element 16 (or incident light to the light receiving element 17). Improve the efficiency of optical coupling.

  The mirror body 7 and the lens 8 are integrally formed of a material that transmits an optical signal (wavelength: 0.8 to 1.6 μm) such as glass, plastic, or resin.

  The reason why the incident light (or outgoing light) is reflected by the inclined surface 7a of the mirror main body 7 is that the refractive index of air is different from the material such as glass, plastic and resin constituting the mirror main body 7.

  In the present embodiment, the lens-equipped mirror member 9 and the optical element 4 are integrally formed to constitute an optical element module 28. The lens-equipped mirror member 9 and the optical element 4 are integrally formed while aligning the optical axes, but may be integrally formed by mechanical positioning using a jig without performing optical axis alignment. The integral formation is performed by mounting a mold of the mirror member with lens 9 on the optical element 4 and injecting plastic or resin. Alternatively, the lens-attached mirror member 9 formed of a mold or the like and the optical element 4 are directly bonded with an optically transparent adhesive, or the optical element 4 is accommodated in a package (not shown), and the lens-attached mirror is included in the package. The member 9 is attached and formed integrally.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the optical connector 10 includes a rectangular parallelepiped ferrule 20, and a plurality (four) upper holes 21 formed at the same interval as the arrangement interval of the light emitting elements 16 and the arrangement interval of the light receiving elements 17. And a plurality of (four) lower holes 22 formed at the same interval.

  Each upper stage hole 21 and each lower stage hole 22 are formed in parallel to the substrate surface, and each upper stage hole 21 has an optical fiber 6a constituting the tape-like optical fiber 6b on the upper side of the optical fiber array 6. When the tip is inserted and the tip of each optical fiber 6a constituting the tape-like optical fiber 6b on the lower side of the optical fiber array 6 is inserted into each lower hole 22, the light incident end face or light emission of each optical fiber 6a The optical axis of the end face is held so as to be parallel to the substrate surface.

  The optical fiber array 6 is connected to the ferrule 20 by inserting the tip of each optical fiber 6a of the optical fiber array 6 into each upper hole 21 or each lower hole 22 of the ferrule 20, and then injecting and fixing an adhesive. The end face of the ferrule 20 on the light incident end face or the light exit end face side of each optical fiber 6a is polished to expose the light incident end face or light exit end face of each optical fiber 6a.

  The vertical interval T between each upper hole 21 and each lower hole 22 is determined by the standard, and is, for example, 500 μm in Infiniband. On the other hand, since the thickness t of the substrate 3 is about 1 mm, the vertical distance (= T) between the tape-like optical fibers 6b constituting the optical fiber array 6 is converted to a pitch that is at least larger than the thickness t of the substrate 3. There is a need.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the vertical distance of each tape-shaped optical fiber 6b is made to coincide with the vertical distance of the lens 8 of the lens-equipped mirror member 9 disposed on the front and back (upper and lower) surfaces of the substrate 3 (each tape-shaped light In order to make the optical axis of the light incident end face or the light outgoing end face of the fiber 6b coincide with the optical axis of the lens 8 of the lens-equipped mirror member 9 disposed on the front and back (upper and lower) surfaces of the substrate 3, the substrate 3 and the optical connector 10 is provided with an optical path conversion optical waveguide member 13 with a lens.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the optical path conversion optical waveguide member 13 with a lens includes an optical waveguide 11, a block main body 23 (upper block 23 a and lower block 23 b) divided into two with the optical waveguide 11 as a boundary, and a lens 12. Two sets of the formed block members 24 are arranged so as to be vertically symmetrical. The dividing surface 25 of the block body 23 is formed with a curvature that allows the optical path of the optical waveguide 11 to ignore light loss (for example, less than 0.1 dB).

  The optical waveguide 11 includes a plurality of flexible optical waveguides 11a made of a polymer material such as a polymer, and the lens 12 has a lens 27 integrated on an optically transparent transparent substrate 26 formed of glass, plastic, resin, or the like. The lens-formed substrate is formed.

  The thickness of the transparent substrate 26 is preferably 0.1 mm to 2 mm. If the thickness is less than 0.1 mm, it is difficult to handle, and if it exceeds 2 mm, the diffusion of the optical signal increases and the optical loss increases. Preferably 0.5-1 mm is good.

  As shown in FIGS. 3A to 3D, the optical path conversion optical waveguide member 13 with a lens is bonded and fixed so that the optical waveguide 11 composed of a flexible optical waveguide is sandwiched between the curvature surfaces of the block main body 23, and then attached to the lens. A lens 12 made of a substrate is affixed so that the lens 27 is positioned on the optical axis of the light incident / exit end face of the optical waveguide 11, and two sets of these are arranged vertically symmetrically, and then bonded using an adhesive. Is done.

  The flexible optical waveguide 11a has a structure in which a core made of a polymer material such as a polymer and a periphery of the core are covered with a clad made of a polymer material such as a polymer having a refractive index lower than that of the core. Or a rectangle).

  Since the flexible optical waveguide 11 a is made of a polymer material such as a polymer, the flexible optical waveguide 11 a can be deformed flexibly and can be adapted to the curvature shape of the dividing surface 25 of the block body 23.

The core pitch L ₂ (interval) on the lens 12 side of the flexible optical waveguide 11a is formed at the same pitch as the arrangement pitch of the light emitting elements 4, and the core pitch L ₁ on the optical fiber 6a side of the flexible optical waveguide 11a is the optical fiber array. 6 is formed at the same pitch as the core pitch.

  The dimension of the core of the flexible optical waveguide 11a is appropriately determined according to the core diameter of the optical fiber 6a.

  The mutual conversion between an electrical signal and an optical signal using the optical transceiver 1 will be described.

  An electrical signal from the electronic device is transmitted from an electrical connector provided in the electronic device to the driver 18 via the card edge connector 15 of the substrate 3, and the light emitting element 16 is driven and controlled by the driver 18. It is converted into a signal and the optical signal is emitted in a direction perpendicular to the substrate surface.

  The optical signal emitted from the light emitting element 16 is reflected by the inclined surface 7a of the mirror member 9 with a lens, and its traveling direction is converted by 90 ° and emitted from the lens 8 of the mirror member 9 with a lens. Via the lens 12 of the upper block member 24a of the optical waveguide member 13, it is optically coupled to the light incident end surface 700a of the flexible optical waveguide 11a, propagates through the flexible optical waveguide 11a, and is inserted into the upper hole 21 of the optical connector 10. It is optically coupled to the light incident end surface 700c of the optical fiber 6a and output to the outside through the optical fiber 6a.

  On the other hand, the optical signal emitted from the light emitting end face 700d of the optical fiber 6a inserted into the lower hole 22 propagates through the flexible optical waveguide 11a held by the lower block member 24b of the optical path conversion optical waveguide member 13 with lens. Then, the light is emitted from the lens 12 in parallel with the substrate surface, guided to the mirror body 7 through the lens 8 of the mirror member 9 with the lens, reflected by the inclined surface 7a of the mirror body 7, and the traveling direction thereof is converted by 90 °, Next, the light enters the light receiving element 17 and is converted into an electric signal by the light receiving element 17, and then the electric signal is amplified by the amplifier 19 and transmitted to the electronic device.

  Through the above operation, the optical transceiver 1 according to the present embodiment performs mutual conversion between an electrical signal and an optical signal.

  According to the optical transceiver 1 according to the present embodiment, a lens-attached mirror member that is formed integrally with the light emitting element 16 (or the light receiving element 17) and includes the mirror main body 7 and the lens 8 formed integrally with the mirror main body 7. 9 is used, the number of parts can be reduced and the cost can be reduced while improving the efficiency of optical coupling between the optical element 4 and the flexible optical waveguide 11a as compared with a conventional optical transceiver in which a mirror is separately provided. it can. Furthermore, the configuration can be reduced in size as compared with the prior art.

  Further, according to the optical transceiver 1 according to the present embodiment, the optical element 4, that is, the light emitting element 16 and the light receiving element 17 are separately mounted on the front and back surfaces of the substrate 3. Compared with the case where the element 16 and the light receiving element 17 are mounted, the area of the substrate 3 can be effectively utilized. For this reason, the size of the substrate 3 can be reduced, which can contribute to the miniaturization of the optical transceiver 1.

  Furthermore, since the light emitting element 16 and the light receiving element 17 are separately mounted on the front and back surfaces of the substrate 3, the influence of noise from the driver 18 that drives and controls the light emitting element 16 on the amplifier 19 on the back surface can be reduced.

  In the present embodiment, the optical connector 10 is formed by inserting the optical fibers 6a constituting the optical fiber array 6 into the upper holes 21 and the lower holes 22 formed in the ferrule 20, but the present invention is not limited to this. Is not to be done.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the ferrule 20 is divided into three parts, an upper part 20a, a main body 20b, and a lower part 20c, and a guide groove 40 having a semicircular cross section is formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the main body 20b. A semicircular arc guide groove 41 corresponding to the guide groove 40 may be formed, each optical fiber 6a may be disposed in the guide groove 40, and the main body 20b may be sandwiched between the upper part 20a and the lower part 20c to form the optical connector 10.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the optical path conversion optical waveguide member 13 with a lens is configured by arranging two sets of block members 24 formed of the optical waveguide 11, the block main body 23, and the lens 12 so as to be vertically symmetrical. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

  For example, as shown in FIGS. 5A to 5D, a rectangular parallelepiped block main body 50 is divided into three so as to be vertically symmetrical, and the optical waveguide 11 is sandwiched between two divided surfaces 51, and a lens having a lens 52 is provided. The attached substrate 53 may be attached so that the lens 52 is positioned on the input / output end face of each optical waveguide 11 to form the lens-attached optical path converting optical waveguide member 13.

  Further, in the present embodiment, a plurality of light emitting elements 16 (or light receiving elements 17) each having a lens-attached mirror member 9 integrally formed are arranged in parallel. Alternatively, an array-shaped optical element such as a VCSEL (Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser) having a light receiving unit) may be used.

  In this case, it is preferable to use one mirror provided with lenses 8 corresponding to the number of light emitting portions (or light receiving portions) on the light incident / exit end face of the mirror main body 7 and integrally form it on the arrayed optical element. .

  Most of the above-described optical path changing optical waveguide member 13 with lens, light receiving element 17, light emitting element 16, driver 18, amplifier 19, and substrate 3 are housed in a case 200 and protected. The case 200 is preferably made of metal (SUS, aluminum, etc.) in order to obtain heat dissipation and noise prevention effects. However, resin or plastic may be used in an environment where heat dissipation and noise are not a problem. The card edge connector 15 formed at one end 2 of the substrate 3 has a structure in which a part protrudes from the case 200.

  Next, an optical active cable using the optical transceiver 1 will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the optical active cable 100 is obtained by optically connecting the optical transceiver 1 to both ends of the optical fiber array 6. More specifically, the light emitting element 16 (or light receiving element 17) of one optical transceiver 1 and the light receiving element 17 (or light emitting element 16) of the other optical transceiver 1 are connected to each optical fiber 6a of the optical fiber array 6 and a lens. The optical path conversion optical waveguide member 13 is optically connected through each flexible optical waveguide 11a.

  By connecting the electronic devices using the optical active cable 100, bidirectional optical communication can be performed between the electronic devices via the optical fiber array 6.

  According to the optical active cable 100, since the optical transceiver 1 of the present invention is used, the number of parts can be reduced and the cost can be reduced while improving the efficiency of optical coupling between the optical element 4 and the flexible optical waveguide 11a. Can do.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Optical transceiver 3 Board | substrate 4 Optical element 6 Optical fiber array 7 Mirror main body 8 Lens 9 Lens mirror member 10 Optical connector 11 Optical waveguide 12 Lens 13 Optical path conversion optical waveguide member with lens

Claims (5)

An optical element comprising a light emitting element or a light receiving element;
A mirror body having a reflecting surface with a substantially right-sided triangular cross-section;
It consists of a lens that collimates or condenses the optical signal from the optical element or the optical signal to the optical element, and the lens is integrally formed on one optical signal incident surface or optical signal output surface of the mirror body As
An optical element module, wherein the optical element is integrally formed on the other optical signal incident surface or optical signal output surface of the mirror body. Case and
A substrate housed in the case and electrically connected so that one end can be inserted into and removed from an electrical connector provided in the electronic device;
A light emitting element and a light receiving element that are housed in the case and mounted on the front and back surfaces of the substrate so that the optical axis is perpendicular to the front and back surfaces of the substrate;
Light having an optical fiber array provided outside the case on the other end side of the substrate, and held so that the optical axis of the light incident end surface or the light exit end surface of the optical fiber array is parallel to the front and back surfaces of the substrate A connector;
A mirror member with a lens having a mirror body having a substantially right-angled triangular cross section and a lens formed on a light incident / exit surface of the mirror body; and the light emitting element and the light receiving element formed integrally with each other;
An optical path conversion optical waveguide member provided between the optical fiber array of the optical connector and the lens of the mirror member with the lens;
An optical transceiver comprising:   The optical path converting optical waveguide member is formed of a flexible optical waveguide and a substrate with a lens integrally formed with a lens on a transparent substrate, and a block main body divided into a plurality of parts, and a curved surface is formed on the divided surface of the block main body The flexible optical waveguide is sandwiched between the curvature surfaces of the block main body, and the lens of the substrate with the lens is pasted so as to be positioned on the optical axis of the light incident end surface or the light output end surface of the flexible optical waveguide. The optical transceiver according to claim 2 configured.   The optical transceiver according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the light emitting element and the light receiving element are arrayed optical elements.   An optical active cable, wherein the optical transceiver according to claim 2 is optically connected to both ends of the optical fiber array.

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