JPH0573203B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an optical connector for positioning and holding optical fibers to achieve coupling in optical communications.

(Prior art and problems to be solved) Fig. 4 is a top view showing the inside of an example of a conventional multi-core optical connector, and Fig. 5 A and B are both front views of the end face of the multi-core optical connector. It is a diagram.

In the drawing, 11 is a resin molded part, A is a cored optical fiber, and B is an optical fiber.
It is positioned and held by adhesive within an optical fiber guide hole 14 formed in the optical fiber guide hole 14 . Reference numeral 12 denotes guide pin holes for inserting guide pins 13, and by inserting two guide pins 13 into the guide pin holes 12, positioning and coupling of opposing optical connectors is realized.

In this way, in a conventional optical connector, the optical fiber guide hole 14 and the guide pin 12 are formed in a line on the same straight line, but when there are about 5 fibers as shown in Figure 5A, the vertical and width dimensions are balanced. However, as shown in the figure (b), as optical fibers become more multi-core, for example 12 fibers, the guide pin diameter generally increases from 0.7 to 1.0 when the optical fiber diameter is 125 μmφ.
Very large mmφ guide pin hole 1 like this
2 is located on the same straight line as the optical fiber guide hole 14, the width becomes much longer than the length, which causes a problem in terms of strength.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems and provides an optical connector that is dimensionally balanced and highly reliable in terms of strength. More than one optical fiber guide groove and a plurality of guide pin grooves are provided separately on the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate plate, and flat plates are bonded to both sides of the substrate plate to form optical fiber guide holes and guide pin holes. and the substrate plate is made of a transparent body.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a specific example of the optical connector of the present invention, in which A is a cross-sectional front view and B is a cross-sectional front view taken along line X-X in FIG.
FIG.

In the drawings, reference numeral 1 denotes a substrate plate made of a hard and brittle material that can be easily ground with precision, such as silicon, ceramic, glass, etc. Optical fiber guide grooves 4 and guide pin grooves 5 are separately provided on the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate plate. It is being 2 and 3 are flat plates bonded to both sides of the substrate plate 1. By arranging the optical fiber guide grooves 4 and the guide pin grooves 5 in two stages in this way, the drawback of conventionally being longer in the lateral direction can be overcome. This makes it possible to construct an optical connector with good vertical and horizontal balance.

The positional relationship between the optical fiber guide groove 4 and the guide pin groove 5 is such that the substrate plate 1 is made of a transparent material,
After grooving either side, detecting the machining edge from the opposite side using transparency, positioning, and grooving is an effective means for more accurate positioning. At this time, it is better to form a reflective coating layer by sputtering a thin film of aluminum, chromium, etc. on the transparent substrate plate in advance, so that the edges during groove processing can be easily seen from the back side.

Further, the substrate plate 1 and the flat plates 2 and 3 may be bonded using a thin film adhesive, or, if necessary, an elastic clip that presses them in a sandwich-like manner may be used in combination for more secure bonding.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. be exposed. By inserting the optical fiber along this exposed V-groove, the workability of inserting the optical fiber into the optical fiber guide groove 4 is improved.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the optical connector shown in FIG. 1 housed in a reinforcing housing. When stored in the reinforcing housing 6, the guide pin hole 5 located at the bottom is sealed by pressing the end face of the board plate 1 against the stepped portion 7 of the reinforcing housing 6 and fixing it with adhesive or the like. Therefore, the adhesive used to fix the optical fiber B in the optical fiber guide groove 4 in the subsequent process can be prevented from flowing into the guide pin hole 5.

FIG. 3 shows an application example in which an optical fiber B is positioned and fixed in the optical fiber guide groove 4 of the optical connector of the present invention, a guide pin 8 is inserted into the guide pin groove 5, and the guide pin 8 is held under pressure by an elastic clip 9. FIG.

(Example) A thin film of chromium was deposited on one surface of a glass substrate plate, and guide pin grooves were formed therein at predetermined pitches by grinding. Next, this substrate plate was turned over, and the edge from which the chromium vapor deposition had been removed was positioned while being observed from the far side using epi-illumination, and optical fiber guide grooves were formed at a predetermined pitch by grinding. Afterwards, glass flat plates were bonded to both sides of the substrate plate using a thin film of adhesive to create an optical connector. At this time, a short flat plate was used on the side of the optical fiber guide groove so that a part of the optical fiber guide groove was exposed.

The optical connector thus obtained is housed in a plastic-molded reinforcing housing with the guide pin groove facing downwards, and the end face of the board plate is pressed against the stepped part of the reinforcing housing to fix it. The pin groove is now sealed. Thereafter, eight optical fibers were inserted into the optical fiber guide grooves, fixed with adhesive, and the end faces were polished.

When such optical connectors were positioned and coupled using two guide pins with a diameter of 0.7 mmφ and the coupling loss was measured, it was found that the average
This was achieved with extremely low loss of 0.08dB. Also, regarding the dimensions, it is an 8-core optical connector, with a width of 5 mm and a length of 4 mm.
It was confirmed that it was small in size (mm), well-balanced, and had sufficient strength.

In order to facilitate polishing of the end surface, the optical connector was assembled with the tip thereof protruding from the end of the reinforcing housing.

(Effects of the Invention) The optical connector of the present invention described above provides the following effects.

By separately providing optical fiber guide grooves and guide pin grooves on both sides of the substrate plate and arranging them in two stages, an optical connector that is well-balanced in terms of size and strength can be obtained.

By forming the substrate plate from a hard and brittle material, highly accurate groove processing is possible without generating burrs during groove grinding.

By forming the substrate plate from a transparent material such as glass and by providing a reflective coating layer, the groove edges formed on the front surface can be observed from the back surface, and highly accurate positioning becomes possible.

By shortening the flat plate on the optical fiber guide groove side and exposing a part of the optical fiber guide groove, the ease of inserting the optical fiber is improved.

When the optical connector is housed in the reinforcing housing, the guide pin groove can be sealed by positioning the optical connector using the step of the reinforcing housing.

By separately providing the optical fiber guide groove and guide pin groove on the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate plate,
Since they do not interfere with each other, it is possible to easily adopt a method of fixing the guide pin outer diameter by pressing, for example, using an elastic clip.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a specific example of the optical connector of the present invention, in which A is a cross-sectional view, and B is a cross-sectional view taken from FIG. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the optical connector shown in FIG. 1 housed in a reinforcing housing, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the optical connector shown in FIG. 1 clamped with an elastic clip. FIG. 4 is a top view showing the inside of an example of a conventional optical connector, and FIGS. 5A and 5B are front views of the end face of the conventional multi-core optical connector. A...Optical fiber core wire, B...Optical fiber, 1
... Substrate plate, 2, 3 ... Flat plate, 4 ... Optical fiber guide groove, 5 ... Guide pin groove, 6 ... Reinforcement housing, 9 ... Elastic clip.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In an optical connector for positioning and holding optical fibers and coupling them together, at least one optical fiber guide groove and a plurality of guide pin grooves are provided separately on the upper and lower surfaces of a substrate plate, and the above-mentioned An optical connector characterized in that flat plates are bonded to both sides of a substrate plate to form optical fiber guide holes and guide pin holes, and the substrate plate is made of a transparent body. 2. Claim 1, characterized in that one surface of the substrate plate is provided with a reflective coating.
Optical connector described in section. 3. The optical connector according to claim 1, wherein the flat plate on the optical fiber guide groove side is shorter than the substrate plate, and a part of the optical fiber guide groove is exposed. 4 The end face of the substrate plate of the optical connector housed in the reinforcing housing is in contact with the stepped portion of the reinforcing housing, and the guide pin hole is sealed against adhesive for fixing the optical fiber. Optical connectors described in scope 1.