JPH06347651A - Formation of fiber end face - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simultaneously break plural optical fibers by a simple method. CONSTITUTION:A cutter 5 is moved along a goove 4a of a fixing member 3 to form a flaw 7 in the clad part of the plural optical fibers 2 at its front end as shown in Fig. (a). The upper and lower surface of the fixing member 3 are pressed and fixed by a breaking jig 6 as shown in Fig. (b) and such force as shown by an arrow C is applied on the fixing member 3 along the groove 4a, thereby, the respective optical fibers 2 and the fixing member 3 are broken as shown in Fig. (c). The core parts of the respective optical fibers 2 are broken in the state of nearly specular surfaces by the brittle fracture property possessed by the fibers themselves. The broken end faces of the respective optical fibers 2 are made into the specular surface 8 state. The fibers are subjected to breaking again by using the second and subsequent grooves 4b, 4c in case of a failure in the first time of the breaking.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an end surface of an optical fiber, and more particularly to a mirror surface of the end surface of the optical fiber,
The present invention relates to a method for forming an end face of an optical fiber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional method for forming an end face of an optical fiber is
As shown in FIG. 5A, a tapered concave end face B is provided toward the center of the end face A of the cylindrical ferrule 31 for fixing the optical fiber. Then, as shown in (b) and (c) of FIG. 5, an optical fiber strand 32 is formed in a state of being along the concave end face B using, for example, a diamond cutter 33 having a blade of a hard material having a sharp tip. By applying
When the optical fiber strand 32 is scratched by the tip of a cutter and is bent inward while pulling the optical fiber strand 32, the brittle fracture of the optical fiber strand 32 causes the core portion of each optical fiber strand 32 to be almost a mirror surface. It is fractured in a state close to (see JP-A-57-188005).

[0003]

However, in this conventional method for forming the end face of the optical fiber, since the end face of the ferrule needs to have a concave shape, the optical fiber having a predetermined roughness by one break of the optical fiber. If the fractured end face of No. 1 cannot be obtained, this ferrule cannot be used, so the optical fiber must be attached to a new ferrule, and as a result, it is troublesome and costly. is there. For example, all the n-number of optical fibers in order to obtain the fracture edge surface of the predetermined roughness and the yield of one optical fiber and a (0 <a <1) , the n optical fibers, the yield of a ⁿ Becomes 1
The probability that a predetermined fracture surface can be obtained by repeated ruptures is extremely poor, and there is a problem that a large number of man-hours are required for the work.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for forming an end face of an optical fiber which can simultaneously break a plurality of optical fibers by a simple method. .

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for forming an end face of an optical fiber in which the end faces of the optical fiber are mirror-finished. Fixing using a fixing member made of a material having a cleavage plane perpendicular to the optical transmission direction of the optical fiber and having a groove so that the cladding portions of the plurality of optical fibers are exposed; Scratching the exposed cladding of the fiber,
By applying a force to the fixing member along the groove,
A step of breaking the plurality of optical fibers and the fixing member is included.

A plurality of the grooves are formed in the fixing member.

[0007]

In the present invention constructed as described above, first, a plurality of optical fibers arranged in an array are made of a material having a cleavage plane perpendicular to the optical transmission direction of the optical fibers, and the plurality of optical fibers are formed. It is fixed using a fixing member having a plurality of grooves such that the clad portion of is exposed. For example, by moving the cutter along one groove, the clad portion of the plurality of optical fibers is scratched at its tip,
By applying a force to the fixing member along the groove, the plurality of optical fibers and the fixing member are broken. As a result, the brittle fracture of each optical fiber strand causes the core of each optical fiber to be fractured in a state in which the core is almost a mirror surface.

If the first breaking process fails,
Breaking can be performed again using the second and subsequent grooves.

[0009]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view for explaining an embodiment of a method for forming an end face of an optical fiber according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an X in FIG.
It is a X-ray sectional view.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a plurality of (four in this embodiment) optical fibers 1 arranged in an array.
The a, 1b, 1c and 1d are fixed by a fixing member 3. The fixing member 3 has a substantially rectangular shape and is made of a material having a cleavage plane perpendicular to the optical transmission direction of the optical fibers 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, and the optical fibers 1a, 1a.
A plurality of (three in the present embodiment) grooves 4a, 4 such that the clad portion of each of the optical fiber strands 2b, 1c, 1d is exposed.
b, 4c. As the material of the fixing member 3, for example, vinyl chloride or plastic can be used, and the grooves 4a, 4b, 4c extend in the direction perpendicular to the light transmission direction.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the cutter 5 is set to 1
By moving along one of the grooves 4a, scratches 7 are formed on the clad portions of the plurality of optical fiber element wires 2 at the tips thereof.
As the cutter 5, for example, a diamond cutter provided with a blade made of a hard material having a sharp tip is used.

Then, as shown in FIG. 3B, the upper and lower surfaces of the fixing member 3 are pressed and fixed by a breaking jig 6, and a force as shown by an arrow C is applied to the fixing member 3 along the groove 4a. Is added below, the plurality of optical fiber element wires 2 and the fixing member 3 are broken as shown in FIG. 3 (c). At this time, the fixing member 3 has the optical fibers 1a, 1b, 1c, 1
Since it has a cleavage plane perpendicular to the light transmission direction of d, the breaking can be easily performed. As a result, due to the brittle fracture of each optical fiber element 2, the optical fiber element 2 is fractured with its core portion almost close to a mirror surface. The fractured end face of each optical fiber element wire 2 becomes a mirror surface 8 state.

If the first breaking process fails,
Fracture processing is performed again using the second and subsequent grooves 4b and 4c. It

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of coupling an array optical fiber and an optical array element, which is obtained by an embodiment of the method for forming an end face of an optical fiber according to the present invention.

In the example shown in FIG. 4A, an optical array element 9 having a plurality of light emitting portions or light receiving portions 10 is arranged so that each light emitting portion or light receiving portion 10 faces the mirror surface 8 of each optical fiber strand 2. In the example shown in FIG. 4B, a microlens array 12 having a plurality of lenses 13 is interposed between the optical array element 9 and the array optical fiber.

[0017]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, the end face of each optical fiber can be made to be a mirror surface state by a simple processing in which a plurality of optical fibers are damaged and then simultaneously broken. It has an effect that the number of steps required for processing is small, and the cost is not increased.

Further, according to the present invention, if the first break process fails, the second and subsequent grooves can be used to perform the break process again, so that the second and subsequent processes can be easily performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view for explaining an embodiment of a method for forming an end face of an optical fiber according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view for explaining each step of the embodiment of the method for forming the end face of the optical fiber according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of coupling an optical fiber and an optical array element, which is obtained by an embodiment of a method for forming an end face of an optical fiber according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining each step of a conventional method for forming an end face of an optical fiber.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d Optical fiber 2 Optical fiber element 3 Fixing member 4a, 4b, 4c Groove 5 Cutter 6 Breaking jig 7 Scratch 8 Mirror surface 9 Optical array element 10 Light emitting part or light receiving part 11 Light 12 Micro lens array 13 Lens

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method for forming an end face of an optical fiber for making the end face of the optical fiber a mirror surface, wherein a plurality of optical fibers arranged in an array form a cleavage plane perpendicular to the optical transmission direction of the optical fiber. Fixing using a fixing member made of a material having and having a groove such that the clad portions of the plurality of optical fibers are exposed; scratching the exposed clad portions of the plurality of optical fibers; By applying a force to the fixing member along the groove,
A method of forming an end face of an optical fiber, comprising a step of breaking the plurality of optical fibers and the fixing member. 2. The method for forming an end face of an optical fiber according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the grooves are formed in the fixing member.