JP2855747B2 - Optical waveguide device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an optical waveguide device useful in optical fiber communication and optical signal processing.

[Conventional technology]

As one method of forming an optical waveguide, as shown in FIG. 4, there is a method of irradiating a mixed plastic film of bisphenol-based polycarbonate (PCZ) and methyl acrylate with ultraviolet rays to form an optical waveguide 6 by selective polymerization (particularly, FIG. 4). No.51-3522). Since the surface of the film is easily damaged, the protective films 7, 8 are coated. The plastic optical waveguide film 1 made by this method has a thickness of 30 μm.
It is extremely thin, 〜100 μm, and is difficult to connect to the fiber by itself. For this purpose, it is necessary to fix it with a rigid object.

Conventionally, as shown in Fig. 4, width 15mm, thickness 3mm, length 1
The optical waveguide element was formed by sandwiching the optical waveguide film 1 between two epoxy plates 4 and 5 of 0 to 70 mm and fixing them with adhesives 2 and 3. At this time, the surface of the optical waveguide film 1 was congruent with the epoxy plate. In some cases, a further improvement was made in which a groove was formed at the end of the optical waveguide film side as shown in FIG.
Since the adhesiveness between the optical waveguide film 1 and the epoxy plates 4 and 5 is not good, the adhesion is strengthened by allowing the epoxy plates to directly adhere to each other in the region 9. The reason why the convex portion is left is to enable positioning. That is, when the optical waveguide 6 drawn on the optical waveguide film 1 is fixed obliquely in the epoxy plate, the loss increases due to connection with the fiber. Therefore, a method has been devised to prevent the positional deviation from occurring by aligning the projection with the side surface of the epoxy plate (Japanese Patent Application No. 58-211804).
(JP-A-60-103319).

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

Since the size of a photomask for forming an optical waveguide is limited, in order to form more optical waveguides than one photomask, the intervals between the optical waveguides must be reduced. That is, the width of the optical waveguide film is reduced. The width of the optical waveguide itself is 1 mm or less, and there is no problem in reducing the width of the current optical waveguide film to 15 mm. However, besides fixing the optical waveguide film, the epoxy plate is in contact with a fiber array 14 for collecting and fixing the fibers 11 as shown in FIG. 6, and the width of the epoxy plate cannot be made smaller than 15 mm for bonding and fixing.

In the above-described conventional optical waveguide film fixing structure, the width of the convex portion of the optical waveguide film (see FIG. 5) must be equal to the width of the epoxy plate, and as a result, the width of the optical waveguide film cannot be reduced. There were drawbacks.

[Means for solving the problem]

The optical waveguide element of the present invention, after impregnating the polymerizable monomer into the transparent plastic film, selectively polymerize the monomer impregnated in the transparent plastic film with light,
In an optical waveguide element in which the overlapped portion is an optical waveguide, the optical waveguide film having an optical waveguide sandwiched between two hard plates is adhesively fixed, and the width of the optical waveguide film in a direction parallel to the optical waveguide is determined by the width of the hard plate. And making holes in the four corners of the optical waveguide film and the two hard plates at the same position and the same diameter so that the optical waveguides are parallel to the side surfaces of the hard plates. When the film is sandwiched and fixed, a core pin having substantially the same shape as the hole is inserted into the hole to position the optical waveguide film on the solid plate. Alternatively, holes are provided at the four corners of the two hard plates so as to be in contact with the side lines of the optical waveguide film, and the optical waveguide film is arranged by placing the optical waveguide film inside a core pin having substantially the same diameter as the hole inserted into the hole. Positioned.

[Action]

In the present invention, since the optical waveguide film is positioned in the epoxy plate by the core pins, the width of the optical waveguide can be made smaller than the width of the epoxy plate.

〔Example〕

 Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, holes 15 and 16 are formed in the four corners of the optical waveguide film 1 and the epoxy plates 4 and 5, respectively.
After applying 2 and 3 as shown in the figure, core pins 17 and 18 are
When the optical waveguide film 1 is inserted into the epoxy film 6, the optical waveguide film 1 can be adhesively fixed at a fixed position on the epoxy plates 4 and 5.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, holes 19 are formed in the four corners of the epoxy plates 4 and 5, respectively. After applying the adhesives 2 and 3 as shown in the figure, inserting the core pins 17 and 18 into the holes 19, the light guide is formed. Since the hole 19 is provided so as to be in contact with the side surface of the waveguide film 1, the optical waveguide film 1 can be adhesively fixed to a fixed position of the epoxy plates 4 and 5.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a third embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, in addition to the structure of the first embodiment, films 20 and 21 having the same thickness as the optical waveguide film 1 are sandwiched between both sides of the epoxy plate, and when the epoxy plates 4 and 5 are combined, they are inclined. I try not to be.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, when the optical waveguide film is sandwiched between two hard plates and bonded and fixed, the width of the optical waveguide film in the direction parallel to the optical waveguide is made smaller than the width of the hard plate, and the hole is formed. Insert the core pin into the open hard plate and pinch both sides of the optical waveguide film with the core pin, or make a hole in the optical waveguide film and pass through the core pin. Accordingly, a large number of optical waveguides can be drawn on one photomask, a large number of optical waveguide films can be manufactured at the same time, and an optical waveguide element that can be fixed at a fixed position with respect to a hard plate can be obtained. There is.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1, 2, and 3 are perspective views of an optical waveguide device according to the present invention, FIGS. 4 and 5 are perspective views of a conventional optical waveguide device, and FIG. 6 is a diagram of an optical waveguide device and a fiber array. It is a front view of a connection. 1 ... Optical waveguide film, 2,3 ... Adhesive, 4,5 ... Epoxy plate, 6 ... Optical waveguide, 7,8 ... Protective film, 9 ... Direct bonding between epoxy plates, 11 ... ... Fiber, 14 ... Fiber array, 15 ... Hole in optical waveguide film, 16 ... Hole in epoxy plate, 17,18 ... Core pin, 19 ... Hole in epoxy plate, 20,21 ... Tilt prevention film .

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] After a polymerizable monomer is impregnated in a transparent plastic film, the monomer impregnated in the transparent plastic film is selectively polymerized with light, and the polymerized portion becomes an optical waveguide. In the optical waveguide device in which the optical waveguide film is sandwiched and fixed between two hard plates, the width of the optical waveguide film in a direction parallel to the optical waveguide is made smaller than the width of the hard plate, and Holes having the same positions and the same diameters are formed in the four corners of the film and the two hard plates, and a core pin having substantially the same diameter as the holes is inserted into the holes, and the optical waveguide film is positioned on the hard plates and the two hard plates are positioned. An optical waveguide element comprising an optical waveguide film sandwiched and fixed to a plate. 2. A polymerizable monomer is impregnated in a transparent plastic film, and then the monomer impregnated in the transparent plastic film is selectively polymerized by light, and the polymerized portion becomes an optical waveguide. In the optical waveguide device in which the optical waveguide film is sandwiched and fixed between two hard plates, the width of the optical waveguide film in a direction parallel to the optical waveguide is made smaller than the width of the hard plate, and the side line of the optical waveguide film is formed. Holes formed at four corners of two hard plates so as to be in contact with the optical waveguide, and an optical waveguide film is arranged inside a core pin having substantially the same diameter as the hole inserted into the hole.