JPH05215934A - Optical fiber coupler - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable optical coupling of a light emitting element array or light receiving element array and plural optical fibers with high accuracy by subjecting a base body consisting of photosensitive glass to fine-diameter boring, thereby forming a capillary array. CONSTITUTION:The capillary 3 array formed by using the photosensitive glass as a base and subjecting the glass to fine-diameter boring is used in order to dispose plural optical fibers 4 with high accuracy. A mask having prescribed patterns is imposed on, for example, UV photosensitive glass and the glass is irradiated with the UV rays having high parallelism, by which the glass is exposed. The exposed parts are thereafter crystallized by a heating treatment. The crystallized parts are then removed by etching. The shape of the capillaries 3 for inserting and fixing the fibers is wider in the ports to be inserted with the optical fibers 4 than in the inside and, therefore, the setting of the fibers 4 is easy. The plural optical fibers 4 are inserted into the capillaries 3 by such structure and are fixed by adhesives, etc. The fibers are thus used by easily optically coupling the fibers to the light emitting element array or the light receiving element array.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical fiber coupler.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, in the field of optical communication, a plurality of light emitting elements such as light emitting diodes and laser diodes are arranged in an array and optically coupled with a plurality of optical fibers.
In addition, a method in which light emitted from a plurality of optical fibers is incident on a light receiving element array in which a plurality of PIN photodiodes or avalanche photodiodes are arranged in an array and used for optical communication is beginning to be used.

When a plurality of fiber end portions are aligned and optically coupled to a light emitting or light receiving element array, it is necessary to precisely face each fiber and element so as to prevent variations in coupling characteristics. is there. Here, since the light-emitting or light-receiving element array is aligned with extremely high precision on the same semiconductor substrate in the manufacturing process, the main cause of variation is the precision of alignment of the optical fibers. Especially, the core diameter is 1 as in single mode fiber
In the case of using a fiber of about 0 μm, even if the position of the fiber is shifted by several μm, the optical coupling efficiency is greatly reduced, and therefore the fiber needs to be arranged with higher accuracy.

Conventionally, a large number of V-groove substrates have been used for aligning and arranging fibers. However, as the number of fibers increases, it becomes difficult to process the V-grooves with high precision, and the cost is high. The fluctuation of the outer diameter directly leads to a decrease in coupling efficiency, and it is difficult to accurately fix the fiber in the V groove due to processing.

[0005]

The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned problems.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is a coupler for optically coupling a light emitting element array or a light receiving element array and a plurality of optical fibers. Accordingly, the present invention provides an optical fiber coupler characterized in that a capillary array is formed by subjecting a substrate made of photosensitive glass to a small-diameter hole drilling process.

The present invention uses, as an optical fiber coupler, a capillary array in which a small-diameter hole is formed on a photosensitive glass base in order to arrange a plurality of optical fibers with high accuracy.

Hereinafter, examples of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an embodiment of the optical fiber coupler according to the present invention. (A) is a front view and (b) is a side view. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is an optical fiber coupler body, which is obtained by subjecting a photosensitive glass as a base to perforation processing of pores, and in this embodiment, a photosensitive glass material having a thickness of about 1 mm is used. Reference numeral 2 is a guide hole for fixing the optical fiber coupler 1, and 3 is a plurality of capillaries for inserting and fixing optical fibers. In this embodiment, the inner holes having a diameter of 126 μm are arranged at a pitch of 250 μm. There is.

The method of manufacturing the optical fiber coupler is generally as follows.

A mask having the pattern shown in the front view of FIG. 1 is placed on an ultraviolet light-sensitive glass, exposed to ultraviolet rays having a high degree of parallelism, and then the exposed portion is crystallized by heat treatment and then crystallized by etching. By removing. Further, the optical fiber coupler can be crystallized and used by subsequently performing ultraviolet exposure and heat treatment again. Because of the above process, it is possible to manufacture a large number of optical fiber couplers by one treatment.

Photosensitive glass by such ultraviolet rays include Photofoam glass, Photofoam opal, and Photoserum manufactured by Corning.

Next, regarding the shape of the capillary portion for inserting and fixing the fiber, it is generally as shown in FIG. 2 due to the influence of the etching grade. Due to this characteristic, the opening for inserting the optical fiber 4 becomes wider than the inside, so that the fiber can be easily set.

In this embodiment, the hole diameter of the insertion port is about 140 μm.
Has become. Further, by controlling the etching conditions, it is possible to change the inclination angle in the capillary or to make it linearly inclined from one side.

With the above structure, a plurality of optical fibers can be inserted into a capillary, fixed with an adhesive or the like, and easily optically coupled to a light emitting element array or a light receiving element array for use.

[0015]

According to the present invention, an optical fiber coupler which is easy to process and which can optically couple a light emitting element array or a light receiving element array with a plurality of optical fibers with high precision is provided at a low cost. It becomes possible to do.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A is a front view of an embodiment of an optical fiber coupler according to the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a side view of an embodiment of an optical fiber coupler according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a capillary portion of an optical fiber coupler according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Optical fiber coupler main body 2 Optical fiber coupler main body fixing guide hole 3 Optical fiber capillary 4 Optical fiber

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A light emitting element array or a light receiving element array,
An optical fiber coupler, which is a coupler for optically coupling a plurality of optical fibers, wherein a capillary array is formed by subjecting a substrate made of photosensitive glass to a small-diameter drilling process.