JPH0918423A - Optical connecting element and optical connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To reduce the number of components at an optical connecting element, to reduce costs and to suppress an optical loss. CONSTITUTION: This device is provided with a planar monochromatic light source array 10 on which plural light emitting parts 11 are integrally arranged and formed, lens array 20, for which lens parts 21 respectively corresponding to the respective light emitting parts 11 are integrally arranged and formed, for collimating light from the respective light emitting parts at the respective lens parts, lens 30 for converging the light emitted from the respective lens parts, and optical fiber 40 with which the light converged by this lens is made incident and transmitted inside. The light from many light emitting parts can be converged by one lens array and one lens and coupled with the optical fiber, the number of parts is decreased and the loss in the transmission of light is reduced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical connection element and an optical connection device for inputting / outputting a laser beam used in an optical computer, a multistage switching network inside an exchange, optical communication, laser processing, etc. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a field of wavelength division multiplexing optical communication or a field requiring high output such as laser processing, it is sometimes necessary to combine lights emitted from a plurality of light sources into one fiber. Conventionally, as shown in FIG.
The light from each of the optical fibers 130 is individually focused by the lens 120 and coupled to each of the optical fibers 130.
The light from the above is coupled by the optical multiplexer 140 and multiplexed into one optical fiber 150.

For example, FIG. 5 shows an example of a wavelength division multiplexing switch using a wavelength division multiplexing technique. Light from a monochromatic light source 210 is input to an electric control light modulator 220 and a light control light modulator 260 and modulated by each. The light is multiplexed by the optical multiplexer 230 and transmitted. The transmitted light is branched by the optical branching device 240 and input to the filters 250 and 270 and the light receiving element 280.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional optical connection element, the lights of a plurality of monochromatic light sources are focused by individual optical systems, respectively, combined and combined into one optical fiber. However, there is a problem that the number of parts for constructing these individual optical systems increases and light is increased because light passes through these parts. Moreover, since many parts are required, the number of mounting steps increases, and there is a problem in terms of cost.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical connecting element and an optical connecting device in which the number of constituent parts is reduced, the cost is reduced, and the optical loss is suppressed.

[0006]

The optical connecting element of the present invention comprises:
A surface type monochromatic light source array in which a plurality of light emitting portions are integrally formed and a lens portion corresponding to each light emitting portion are integrally formed and formed, and each lens portion collimates the light from each light emitting portion. And a lens that collects the light emitted from each lens unit, and an optical fiber that receives the light collected by the lens and that is transmitted through the inside thereof.

Here, the plurality of light emitting portions can be configured as a surface type monochromatic light source array that emits light of different wavelengths. Further, specifically, the surface type monochromatic light source array is composed of a surface emitting laser, and the lens array is composed of a flat plate microlens.

Further, the wavelength division multiplex switch as the optical connecting device of the present invention has a plurality of light emitting portions integrally arranged and formed, and each light emitting portion emits light of a different wavelength. The lens parts corresponding to the respective parts are integrally arranged and formed, and each lens part collimates the light from each light emitting part, a lens that collects the light emitted from each lens part, and the lens collects the light. The incident light is incident on one end of the optical fiber and transmitted inside the optical fiber, an optical branching device connected to the other end of the optical fiber to branch the transmitted light, and the branched light It is composed of an optical demultiplexer that separates light of each wavelength, a light receiving element that receives the demultiplexed light, and an arithmetic circuit that performs a logical operation based on the light of each light receiving element.

[0009]

The light emitted from the light emitting portion of the surface type monochromatic light source array is collimated by the lens portion of the lens array to be a parallel light beam, and each light beam is condensed at one point by the lens and is incident on one end of the optical fiber. Therefore, the incident lights from the respective light emitting portions are combined and integrally transmitted through the optical fiber.

[0010]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a conceptual configuration diagram of an embodiment of an optical multiplexer as an optical connection element of the present invention. This optical multiplexer comprises a surface type monochromatic light source array 10 such as a surface emitting laser, a lens array 20 such as a flat plate microlens, a lens 30 for condensing light from the lens array, and an optical fiber 40. . The plurality of light emitting units 11 of the planar monochromatic light source array 10 and the plurality of lens units 21 of the lens array 20 are located at corresponding plane positions. In addition, the lens 30 includes the light emitting units 11 and the lens array 2 of the planar monochromatic light source array 10.
A lens having a diameter equal to or larger than the area including each lens unit 21 of 0 is used.

Then, each lens portion 2 of the lens array 20
By arranging the light emitting portions 11 of the planar monochromatic light source array 10 at the focal positions of 1, respectively, the light from each light emitting portion 11 is collimated by the lens portion 21 of the lens array 20 into a parallel light beam, and Light flux is lens 3
The light is focused on one point by 0 and enters one end of the optical fiber 40. The incident lights from the respective light emitting parts 11 are combined and integrally transmitted through the optical fiber 40.

Therefore, in this optical multiplexer, as compared with the optical multiplexer shown in FIG. 4, the lens array 20 is used instead of the individual lens, and the individual optical fiber is not required, and the optical multiplexer is used. Since the lens 30 is used instead of the above, the number of components is reduced. In particular, when the number of monochromatic light sources is large, the reduction effect becomes remarkable. In addition to this, since the number of parts through which each light is transmitted in the process until the light from the monochromatic light source is combined in the optical fiber is small, it is possible to suppress the optical loss.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual configuration diagram of the second embodiment of the present invention, and this embodiment shows an example of an optical multiplexer for multiplexing different monochromatic lights. The optical multiplexer includes a planar monochromatic light source array 10A integrally having a plurality of light emitting portions 11 having different wavelengths, a lens array 20 integrally having a plurality of lens portions 21 corresponding to the light emitting portions 11, and It is composed of a lens 30 that collects the light from each lens unit 21 and an optical fiber 40. The surface type monochromatic light source array 10A
For example, the emission wavelengths of the respective light emitting sections 11 can be made different by controlling the composition of the active layer and the cavity length partially and individually. The same lens array 20, lens 30, and optical fiber 40 as those of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 can be used.

In this optical multiplexer, the surface type monochromatic light source array 1 is used.
Light of different wavelengths λ1 to λ9 from each light emitting unit 11 of 0A is individually collimated by each lens unit 21 of the lens array 20 to be a parallel light flux, and then the lens 3
The light is focused on one point by 0 and is incident on one end of the optical fiber 40. As a result, it becomes possible to transmit the light in which the lights of the wavelengths λ1 to λ9 are wavelength-multiplexed.

FIG. 3 is a constitutional view of an embodiment of the element of the third embodiment of the present invention, and here is an example in which the optical connecting device is constructed as a 4 × 4 wavelength multiplex switch. This multiple switch includes a surface type monochromatic light source array 10A in which light emitting portions 11 having a plurality of fixed oscillation wavelengths are arranged, a lens array 20 having a plurality of lens portions 21 corresponding to each light emitting portion 11, and each lens portion 21. Lens 30 for focusing the light of the
0 and this configuration is similar to that of the second embodiment shown in FIG. At the other end of the optical fiber, an optical branching device 50 such as a star coupler, an optical demultiplexer 60 composed of a diffraction grating, a light receiving element array 70 in which silicon PIN detectors are one-dimensionally arranged, and It is composed of an arithmetic circuit 80 for decoding the signal received by the light receiving element.

In this wavelength division multiplex switch, when a signal from each input channel is input corresponding to each light emitting unit 11 of the surface type monochromatic light source 10A, each light emitting unit 11 outputs λ1.
.About..lamda.4 of different wavelengths, and the lens array 20
Collimated by the lens 30 and the optical fiber 4 by the lens 30.
It is condensed at one end of 0, is coupled to the optical fiber 40, and propagates in the optical fiber 40. The light propagated through the optical fiber 40 is branched at the other end by the number of channels by the optical branching device 50, and is split into each wavelength by the optical branching device 60 at the end of the branching, and then enters the light receiving element array 70. The signal received by the light receiving element array 70 is supplied to the arithmetic circuit 8
The address signal is decoded by 0.

Therefore, also in this wavelength division multiplexing switch, especially on the input side of the optical fiber 40, a single surface type monochromatic light source array 10A and a lens array 2 are provided.
0, the lens 30, the number of components is small, and the number of optical elements through which the light from each light emitting section 11 of the surface type monochromatic light source array 10A is transmitted is small, so that the cost is low and the loss is low. The switch is configured.

Here, each of the above-mentioned embodiments shows an example of the present invention, and light in various optical devices is required which has a configuration in which a plurality of lights are combined and made to enter one optical fiber. The present invention can be applied as a connection element or an optical connection device.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, the light emitted by each light emitting portion of the planar monochromatic light source array in which a plurality of light emitting portions are integrally formed is formed by a plurality of lens portions being integrally formed. The light is collimated in each lens portion of the formed lens array, condensed by the lens, incident on the optical fiber, and transmitted inside. Therefore, even when a large number of lights are combined, the number of components is reduced, the cost of the optical connecting element can be reduced, and the loss can be reduced by transmission.

In the wavelength multiplexing switch as the optical connecting device of the present invention, the light having different wavelengths emitted by the planar monochromatic light source array is transmitted through the optical fiber by the optical connecting element, and the optical branching device is used at the transmission destination. By branching and demultiplexing for each wavelength in the optical demultiplexer, receiving light of each wavelength and performing logical operation, it can function as a wavelength multiplexing switch. The number of parts in the configuration can be reduced, and cost reduction and loss reduction can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual configuration diagram of an optical connection element according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual configuration diagram of an optical connection element according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual configuration diagram of an optical connection device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual configuration diagram of an example of a conventional optical connection element.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an example of a conventional wavelength multiplexing switch.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 10A Surface type monochromatic light source array 11 Light emitting part 20 Lens array 21 Lens part 30 Lens 40 Optical fiber 50 Optical branching device 60 Optical demultiplexer 70 Light receiving element array 80 Arithmetic circuit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A surface type monochromatic light source array in which a plurality of light emitting portions are integrally formed and formed, and lens portions respectively corresponding to the light emitting portions are integrally formed and formed, and each lens portion is a light emitted from each light emitting portion. A lens array that collimates the light, a lens that collects the light emitted from each of the lens parts, and an optical fiber that receives the light collected by the lens and that is transmitted through the inside thereof. Optical connection element. 2. The optical connecting element according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of light emitting portions emit light of different wavelengths. 3. The surface type monochromatic light source array is a surface emitting laser, and the lens array is a flat plate microlens.
Or the optical connection element of 2. 4. A planar monochromatic light source array in which a plurality of light emitting parts are integrally formed and formed, and each light emitting part emits light of a different wavelength, and lens parts respectively corresponding to the light emitting parts are integrally formed and formed. A lens array in which each lens unit collimates the light from each light emitting unit, a lens that collects the light emitted from each lens unit, and the light collected by the lens is incident on one end thereof, An optical fiber transmitted inside the optical fiber, an optical branching device connected to the other end of the optical fiber for branching the transmitted light, and an optical demultiplexer for separating the branched light into lights of respective wavelengths. An optical connection device comprising: a wavelength multiplexing switch; a light receiving element that receives the demultiplexed light, and an arithmetic circuit that performs a logical operation based on the light of each light receiving element.