JP2848279B2 - Optical connection element and optical connection device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multistage switching network in an optical computer or an exchange, and an optical connection element and an optical connection device for inputting and outputting laser light used for optical communication and laser processing to and from an optical fiber. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the field of wavelength multiplexing optical communication and the field requiring high output such as laser processing, it is sometimes necessary to combine light emitted from a plurality of light sources into one fiber. Conventionally, as shown in FIG.
Are individually focused by the lens 120 and coupled to the optical fibers 130, respectively.
From the optical fiber 140 and combine them into a single optical fiber 150.

For example, FIG. 5 shows an example of a wavelength division multiplexing switch using a wavelength division multiplexing technique. Light from a monochromatic light source 210 is input to an electric control light modulator 220 and a light control light modulator 260, and modulated by each. The light is multiplexed by the optical multiplexer 230 and transmitted. The transmitted light is split by the optical splitter 240 and input to the filters 250 and 270 and the light receiving element 280.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional optical connection element, the lights of a plurality of monochromatic light sources are respectively focused by individual optical systems, multiplexed and coupled to one optical fiber. However, there is a problem that the number of components for constructing these individual optical systems increases, and light is increased because light passes through these components. Further, since many components are required, the number of mounting steps is increased, and there is a problem in terms of cost.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical connection element and an optical connection device which reduce the number of components, reduce the cost and suppress the optical loss.

[0006]

The optical connecting element of the present invention comprises:
A surface type monochromatic light source array in which a plurality of light emitting portions are integrally arranged, and a plane position corresponding to each light emitting portion on a one-to-one basis;
A planar lens array for collimating light from the respective light emitting portions are arranged and formed integrally, and by the respective light emitting portions are disposed at the focal position of the respective lens portions plurality of lens portions in the Le
A lens having a diameter larger than the area including the lens array and condensing light emitted from each of the lens portions, and one light beam condensed by the lens being incident on one end portion and transmitted through the inside thereof And an optical fiber.

Here, the plurality of light emitting units can be configured as a surface type monochromatic light source array that emits light of different wavelengths. More specifically, the surface type monochromatic light source array is formed of a surface emitting laser, and the lens array is formed of a flat microlens.

A wavelength multiplexing switch as an optical connection device according to the present invention comprises: a surface type monochromatic light source array in which a plurality of light emitting units are integrally arranged and each light emitting unit emits light of a different wavelength; A plurality of lens portions respectively corresponding to the portions are integrally formed and formed, and each lens portion is a lens array that collimates light from each light emitting portion, a lens that collects light emitted from each lens portion, and this lens condensed light is incident on one end, one is transmitted to the internal
An optical fiber, an optical splitter connected to the other end of the optical fiber, for splitting the transmitted light, an optical splitter for separating the split light into lights of respective wavelengths, and a splitter. And a calculation circuit for performing a logical operation based on the light of each light receiving element.

[0009]

[Action] is collimated parallel light beam in the lens portion of each of the light emitted by the light emitting portion of the planar monochromatic light source array lens array, and the light beams are of one optical fiber is converged on one point by the lens to be incident on the one end, light from the light emitting portion is incident are multiplexed and transmitted to the single optical fiber together.

[0010]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a conceptual configuration diagram of an embodiment of an optical multiplexer as an optical connection element of the present invention. The optical multiplexer includes a surface type monochromatic light source array 10 such as a surface emitting laser, a lens array 20 such as a flat microlens, a lens 30 for condensing light from the lens array, and an optical fiber 40. . The plurality of light emitting units 11 of the surface type monochromatic light source array 10 and the plurality of lens units 21 of the lens array 20 are located at corresponding planar positions. Further, the lens 30 is provided between each light emitting unit 11 of the surface type monochromatic light source array 10 and the lens array 2.
A lens having an aperture larger than the area including the respective lens portions 21 is used.

Each lens unit 2 of the lens array 20
The light from each light emitting unit 11 is collimated by the lens unit 21 of the lens array 20 into a parallel light flux by arranging the light emitting units 11 of the planar monochromatic light source array 10 at the corresponding focal positions. Light beam is lens 3
The light is converged at one point by 0 and enters one end of the optical fiber 40. The incident light from each light emitting unit 11 is multiplexed and transmitted integrally through the optical fiber 40.

Therefore, in this optical multiplexer, as compared with the optical multiplexer shown in FIG. 4, a lens array 20 is used instead of an individual lens, and individual optical fibers are not required. , The number of components is reduced. In particular, when the number of monochromatic light sources is large, the reduction effect is remarkable. In addition, since the number of components through which each light is transmitted in the process until the light from the monochromatic light source is combined in the optical fiber is small, light loss can be suppressed.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual configuration diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, an example of an optical multiplexer for multiplexing different monochromatic lights is shown. The optical multiplexer includes a planar monochromatic light source array 10A integrally including a plurality of light emitting units 11 having different wavelengths, a lens array 20 integrally including a plurality of lens units 21 corresponding to the respective light emitting units 11, and It comprises a lens 30 for condensing light from each lens unit 21 and an optical fiber 40. The surface type monochromatic light source array 10A
For example, the light emission wavelengths of the light emitting units 11 can be made different by partially and individually controlling the composition of the active layer and the resonator length. The same lens array 20, lens 30, and optical fiber 40 as those in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 can be used.

In this optical multiplexer, the surface type monochromatic light source array 1
The lights of different wavelengths λ1 to λ9 from the respective light emitting units 11 of 0A are individually collimated by the respective lens units 21 of the lens array 20 to form parallel light fluxes.
The light is converged at one point by 0 and is incident on one end of the optical fiber 40. As a result, it is possible to transmit light in which each light of the wavelengths λ1 to λ9 is wavelength-multiplexed.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the device according to the third embodiment of the present invention, in which the optical connection device is configured as a 4 × 4 wavelength multiplex switch. The multiplex switch includes a surface type monochromatic light source array 10A in which light emitting units 11 having a plurality of fixed oscillation wavelengths are arranged, a lens array 20 having a plurality of lens units 21 corresponding to each light emitting unit 11, and each lens unit 21. Lens 30 for focusing the light of
0, and this configuration is similar to that of the second embodiment shown in FIG. At the other end of the optical fiber, an optical splitter 50 such as a star coupler, an optical demultiplexer 60 composed of a diffraction grating, a light receiving element array 70 in which silicon PIN detectors are arranged one-dimensionally, It comprises an arithmetic circuit 80 for decoding a signal received by the light receiving element.

In this wavelength division multiplexing switch, when a signal from each input channel is input corresponding to each light emitting unit 11 of the surface type monochromatic light source 10A, each light emitting unit 11 outputs λ1
Are converted into light having different wavelengths of .lambda.
Is collimated by the optical fiber 4 by the lens 30.
The light is condensed at one end of the optical fiber 0, is coupled to the optical fiber 40, and propagates in the optical fiber 40. At the other end, the light propagated through the optical fiber 40 is split by the number of channels by the optical splitter 50, and at the split end, is split into each wavelength by the optical splitter 60, and enters the light receiving element array 70. The signal received by the light receiving element array 70 is output to the arithmetic circuit 8
A 0 decodes the address signal.

Therefore, in this wavelength division multiplexing switch, particularly, on the input side of the optical fiber 40, a single surface type monochromatic light source array 10A and a lens array 2
0, the lens 30, so that the number of components is small, and the number of optical elements through which light from each light emitting unit 11 of the surface type monochromatic light source array 10A is transmitted is small. A switch is configured.

Here, each of the above embodiments is an example of the present invention, and a plurality of light beams are combined into a single optical fiber. The present invention can be applied as a connection element or an optical connection device.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, the light emitted from each light emitting portion of the surface type monochromatic light source array in which a plurality of light emitting portions are integrally formed is formed by a plurality of lens portions being integrally formed. collimated at the respective lens portions of the lens array is condensed by a lens, one single optical fiber
The light is incident on the end and transmitted through the inside. Therefore, even when multiplexing a plurality of light, the less number of components, with cost of the optical connection element can be realized, there is an effect capable of reducing by that losses in transmission.

The wavelength division multiplexing switch as the optical connection device of the present invention transmits light of different wavelengths emitted from the surface type monochromatic light source array through one optical fiber by the optical connection element, and transmits the light to the transmission destination. It branched by splitter, and demultiplexed for each wavelength in the optical demultiplexer, by performing logical operations by receiving the light of each wavelength, can function as a wavelength-multiplexed switch, the one even in this case Thus, the number of components on the side that is incident on the optical fiber can be reduced, and cost reduction and loss reduction can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual configuration diagram of an optical connection element according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual configuration diagram of an optical connection device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual configuration diagram of an optical connection device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual configuration diagram of an example of a conventional optical connection element.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an example of a conventional wavelength multiplex switch.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 10A Planar monochromatic light source array 11 Light emitting unit 20 Lens array 21 Lens unit 30 Lens 40 Optical fiber 50 Optical splitter 60 Optical demultiplexer 70 Light receiving element array 80 Operation circuit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04B 10/00 G02F 3/00

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] And 1. A plurality of light emitting portions monochromatic type surface arranged integrally formed light source array, a plurality of lens portions in a plane position for each one-to-one correspondence to the respective light emitting portions are arranged and formed integrally, and each Each of the light emitting units is arranged at the focal position of the lens unit.
It is a planar lens array for collimating light from the respective light-emitting section, the area over bore including the lens array
Having a lens for condensing light emitted from each of the lens units, and one optical fiber in which light condensed by the lens is incident on one end and transmitted inside. Characteristic optical connection element. 2. The optical connection element according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of light emitting units emit light of different wavelengths. 3. The optical connection device according to claim 1, wherein the surface type monochromatic light source array is a surface emitting laser, and the lens array is a flat microlens. 4. A surface type monochromatic light source array in which a plurality of light-emitting portions are integrally arranged and each light-emitting portion emits light of a different wavelength, and a plurality of lens portions respectively corresponding to the light-emitting portions. A lens array formed so that each lens section collimates light from each of the light emitting sections; a lens for condensing light emitted from each of the lens sections; and light condensed by the lens is incident on one end thereof. A single optical fiber transmitted through the optical fiber, an optical splitter connected to the other end of the optical fiber for splitting the transmitted light, and separating the split light into lights of respective wavelengths. An optical connection device, comprising: a wavelength division multiplexing switch including an optical demultiplexer, a light receiving element that receives the demultiplexed light, and an arithmetic circuit that performs a logical operation based on the light of each light receiving element.