JPH07120703A - Production of optical isolator element having optical fiber supporting base - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the process for production of the optical isolator element having an easily workable optical fiber supporting base. CONSTITUTION:An optical isolator element substrate 1 is produced by sticking a large planar Faraday rotor substrate 2 and two sheets of absorption type polarizer substrates 3 to each other. Optical fiber supporting base substrates 4 are stuck to both surfaces thereof and are cut to many pieces of a desired size. The respective optical fiber supporting base substrates 4 are formed with V-grooves 5 by etching.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical isolator used for removing return light generated when light emitted from a light source is introduced into an optical fiber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional optical isolator component has a structure in which a Faraday rotator and a polarizer are embedded in a V groove formed in a substrate. As shown in FIG. 4, a V-groove 11 and a concave groove 12 intersecting with the V-groove 11 are formed on the surface of the substrate 10, and the Faraday rotator 13 and the polarizer that constitute the optical isolator are formed in the groove 12. 14 has an optical isolator element embedded therein.

However, in order to manufacture such an optical isolator component, the groove 12 for embedding the optical isolator element in the substrate as described above must be manufactured by fine processing. For this reason, misalignment of the optical isolator element may occur due to the processing accuracy of the concave groove 12, and light insertion loss may occur. In addition, since the optical isolator grooves must be manufactured by microfabrication one by one during mass production, there is a problem in efficiency in mass production.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a component for an optical isolator which is easy to process in order to solve the above-mentioned problems.

[0005]

A method of manufacturing an optical isolator element having an optical fiber support according to the present invention comprises a plurality of optical elements including at least one Faraday rotator and at least two polarizers. In the method of manufacturing an optical isolator element having an optical fiber support base composed of an optical isolator element bonded to each other to function as an optical isolator by applying a magnetic field, and an optical fiber support base for holding and fixing an optical fiber, the Faraday rotation A plurality of flat optical element substrates including at least one Faraday rotator substrate having a size including a plurality of polarizers and at least two polarizer substrates having a size including a plurality of the polarizers. When the magnetic field is applied in the direction of the optical axis, they are bonded in such a way that they function as an optical isolator. Two optical fiber support bases having a size to include the individual optical fiber support bases are adhered to each other, and the optical fiber support bases are cut into a plurality at predetermined intervals in a direction intersecting with the respective adhering surfaces. The optical fiber holding and fixing part is formed.

[0006]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1A is a perspective view before the optical isolator element substrate and the optical fiber support base substrate are bonded together, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view after the same FIG. FIG. 3B is a perspective view of an optical isolator element completed by cutting from FIG. In each drawing, the same members are designated by the same reference numerals, 1 is an optical isolator element substrate, 2 is a Faraday rotator substrate, and 3 is an absorption-type polarizer in which metal molecules are dispersed in a complex dielectric medium (Corning Corporation).
Product name: polar core), 4 is an optical fiber support board, 5
Is a V groove. Further, the optical isolator element substrate 1, the Faraday rotator substrate 2, and the absorption type polarizer substrate 3 are reduced in diameter by cutting and displayed as an optical isolator element 1 ', a Faraday rotator 2', and an absorption type polarizer 3 ', respectively. is doing. The optical fiber support base 4 has a V groove 5 formed after cutting to form a fiber support 4 '.

First, as shown in FIG. 1A, a rectangular parallelepiped optical isolator element substrate 1 and a silicon V-groove substrate 4 are prepared in advance. The optical isolator element substrate 1 includes a large flat Faraday rotator substrate 2 and an absorptive polarizer substrate 3, and the absorptive polarizer substrate 3 on both sides of the Faraday rotator substrate 2 has a transmission polarization direction aligned with the optical axis. On the other hand, they are laminated with an epoxy resin while being rotated by 45 °.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1B, the optical fiber support base substrate 4 is connected to both end faces of the optical isolator element substrate 1 by epoxy resin to integrate them.

After that, this integrated substrate is cut to a desired size to produce a large number of integrated parts of the two optical fiber support base substrates 4 and the optical isolator element 1 '. Subsequently, the side surfaces of the cut integrated substrate are polished to have flatness, and as shown in FIG. 1C, the two optical fiber support base substrates 4 of each integrated substrate are etched to a V level. When the grooves 5 are formed so as to face each other on both end faces of the optical isolator element 1 ', an optical isolator element having an optical fiber support is completed.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the present invention.
(A) is sectional drawing of the multistage optical isolator element provided with an optical fiber support stand, (b) is sectional drawing of the isolation | separation type optical isolator element provided with an optical fiber support stand.

The multi-stage type optical isolator element shown in FIG. 2A has isolation in which the optical isolator element substrate 1 shown in FIG. 1 is stacked in two stages. Specifically, the Faraday rotator substrate 2 is attached to the optical isolator element substrate 1 shown in FIG. 1, and the absorptive polarizer substrate 3 is attached to the optical axis from the absorptive polarizer substrate 3 whose transmission polarization direction is the middle. It is rotated by 45 ° and pasted together. The manufacturing process after manufacturing this multistage optical isolator element is the same as that of the embodiment shown in FIG.

The separation-type optical isolator element shown in FIG. 2 (b) is a combination of a separation-type polarizer 6 using a rutile crystal plate, a Faraday rotator 2 ', and an optical rotator 7, and the manufacturing method is as follows. Flat optical elements are attached to each other to produce a separation type optical isolator element substrate, and thereafter, the isolation optical isolator element substrate is produced in the same manner as in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 shows still another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows a structure in which each of the bonding surfaces of the Faraday rotator 2 ', the absorption type polarizer 3', and the optical fiber support 4'is tilted at an angle with respect to the optical axis in order to prevent light reflected back at the bonding end surface. I am trying. In this case, the manufacturing method, before bonding the optical isolator element substrate and the optical fiber support base substrate, the connection end face of the optical fiber support base substrate is obliquely polished, or the cutting is angled to form the optical fiber support base surface. Make an angle with the optical isolator element. The V-groove is produced after cutting as in the above. As described above, the optical isolator element of the present invention can be modified in various ways, such as one using an absorption type polarizer, one using a separation type, and one having a multistage structure, and one or more. Faraday rotator and 2
It is sufficient that at least one polarizer is provided as at least one constituent element.

The optical fiber support substrate in each of the above embodiments may be made of quartz, and in this case, the optical fiber holding portion such as the V groove may be machined by cutting. Further, the optical fiber holding portion formed on the optical fiber support is not limited to the V groove, and is held in a state where the optical fiber end faces are opposed to each other with the optical isolator element in between such as a groove of another shape, a guide hole, and a flat surface. Any shape can be used.

[0015]

According to the method of manufacturing an optical isolator element having the optical fiber support base of the present invention, the flat optical isolator element substrate and the optical fiber support base substrate are attached to each other and a large number of integrated substrates are cut. Mass productivity is good.
Further, since the optical fiber support bases are attached to both surfaces of the optical isolator element, there is no misalignment of the optical isolator element.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, (a) is a perspective view of an optical isolator element substrate and an optical fiber support base substrate before bonding, and (b) is an optical isolator element substrate and an optical fiber support base substrate. The perspective view at the time of bonding, (c) is a perspective view of the optical isolator element provided with the optical fiber support base.

2A and 2B show another embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 2A is a sectional view of a multistage optical isolator element having an optical fiber support base, and FIG. 2B is a separation type optical isolator element having an optical fiber support base. Sectional view of.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an optical isolator element including an optical fiber support base according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an optical isolator component showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Optical isolator element substrate, 1 ': Optical isolator element 2: Faraday rotator substrate, 2': Faraday rotator 3: Absorption type polarizer substrate, 3 ': Absorption type polarizer 4: Optical fiber support base substrate, 4 ': Optical fiber support 5: V groove, 6: Separation type polarizer, 7: Optical rotator

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An optical isolator element for bonding a plurality of optical elements including at least one Faraday rotator and at least two polarizers to apply a magnetic field to function as an optical isolator, and an optical fiber. In a method of manufacturing an optical isolator element having an optical fiber support, which comprises an optical fiber support for holding and fixing, at least one Faraday rotator substrate having a size including a plurality of the Faraday rotators, and the polarizer. 2 of the size that includes a plurality of
A plurality of flat plate-shaped optical element substrates including at least one or more polarizer substrates are bonded in an arrangement that functions as an optical isolator when a magnetic field is applied in the direction of the optical axis, and the optical fiber supports are further provided on both surfaces thereof. Two optical fiber support bases having a size including a plurality of the optical fiber support bases are bonded, and the optical fiber support bases are cut into a plurality at predetermined intervals in a direction intersecting the bonding surfaces, and the cut optical fiber support bases. A method for manufacturing an optical isolator element comprising an optical fiber support, wherein an optical fiber holding and fixing portion is formed on the optical fiber.