JPH09304660A - Optical module - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the man-hours for assembly and provide a structure which is easily adaptable to an array type optical element and an opposite-side multi- fiber ribbon. SOLUTION: An optical element (light emitting element or light receiving element) 1 is stored and held opposite to the through hole 2a of a package 2. A fiber optic plate(FOP) 3 is stored and held in the package 2 so that the through hole 2a is closed. The FOP 3 guides the output light of the optical element 1 and emits it to an opposite-side optical component 20 or guides the output light of the opposite-side optical component 20 and makes it incident on the optical element 1. Guide pins 7 which are used for the coupling with the opposite-side optical component 20 may be led out of the end surface of the FOP 3. An element 9 formed by arraying chips may be used as the optical element. In this case, it is easy to optically couple the FOP 3 with respective optical fibers of an opposite-side multi-fiber ribbon 20b. This optical module 100 can be provided with an optical connector mechanism which can freely be inserted into and extracted from the opposite-side optical component.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sealing structure for an optical module, and is to improve alignment work between a light emitting (or light receiving) element in an optical module package and an optical component such as an optical fiber outside the module. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional optical module, a pipe 15 provided on a module package wall as shown in FIGS.
The optical fiber 5 was passed through the optical fiber 5, and the optical fiber 5 was aligned and fixed at a position where the optical element (light emitting or light receiving element) 1 was pulled in close to the optical element 5. This is because the light output from the light emitting element is diffused light, and the larger the distance to the end face of the optical fiber, the less the light captured by the optical fiber and the larger the loss. In the example of FIG. 5, the ferrule 19 attached to the tip of the optical fiber 5 is adapted to be fitted with the mating optical component 20.

As another method, as shown in FIG. 5C, an optical element 1 is mounted in a package 2 in which a light input / output unit is a lens, and a lens 16 collects diffused light to focus the light. There is also one that fixes the end face of the optical fiber 5 at a position.

[0004]

In the conventional optical module, the optical fiber 5 is connected to the pipe 15.
It is necessary to fix the fiber in the center and to form a sealing structure.
Therefore, although brazing and fixing are generally used, there is a problem in that the number of assembling steps becomes large because care must be taken not to cause deviation from the alignment position.

Further, when using a lens, it is necessary to align the optical element 1 and the lens 16, and the lens 16 and the optical fiber 5, respectively, which is troublesome. further,
When the light is condensed by the lens, high optical coupling efficiency is obtained at the focal position, but there is a drawback that the loss when the deviation from the focal position occurs is much larger than that when the lens is not used.

In particular, when the optical element 1 is an array type element and the optical fiber 5 is a multicore tape fiber, it becomes difficult to fix the optical fiber in the pipe, and the array type element and the multicore type fiber are used. Since the pitch of the tape fiber is as small as 250 μm, it is necessary to further reduce the size of the lens used, which is difficult to realize. Even if lenses are obtained, the number of steps for attaching those lenses to the through holes of the package becomes too large, which is not realistic.

An object of the present invention is that the number of assembling steps can be remarkably reduced as compared with the prior art, and it is not necessary to use a lens having a large influence of positional deviation, and it is adapted to an array type optical element and a multi-core tape fiber. Is to provide an optical module that can be easily realized.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

(1) In the optical module according to claim 1, a package having a through hole formed in a side surface thereof, an optical element (a light emitting element or a light receiving element) held in the package facing the through hole, and the through hole are closed. As described above, the output light of the optical element is guided and radiated to the counterpart optical component arranged outside the package, or the output light of the counterpart optical component is guided to the optical element. Inject fiber optic plate (F
OP) and.

(2) In the invention of claim 2, in the above (1), the guide pin used for coupling with the optical component on the other side is led out from the end surface of the fiber optic plate on the side of the through hole. It is a thing. (3) According to the invention of claim 3, in (1), the optical element is an element in which a plurality of chips are formed in an array.

(4) According to the invention of claim 4, in the above (1), the end face of the fiber optic plate on the side of the through hole is arranged so as to be optically coupled to the end face of the multi-core tape fiber on the other side. There is something. (5) According to the invention of claim 5, in the above (1), there is provided an optical connector mechanism which can be inserted into and removed from the mating optical component.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, diffused light from an optical element 1 in an optical module package 2 is converted into a fiber optic plate (FOP) 3
The light is guided inside and optically coupled with the other optical component 20 outside the package 2. The FOP 3 is an optical device in which strand optical fibers having a diameter of several μm are bundled, and as shown in FIG. 3, the core glass 12 is surrounded by a cladding glass 13 containing an absorber, so that Transmits light only in the axial direction. Therefore, when the diffused light from the optical element 1 is guided to the FOP 3 as shown in FIG. 2, the spread of the light is suppressed.

Further, unlike the lens, the FOP 3 does not focus and has a two-dimensional matrix structure, so that if the end face has a sufficient size, the alignment with the optical element 1 is unnecessary. That is, with respect to the position of the optical element 1, FO
Even if P3 moves in the direction perpendicular to the optical path of the optical element 1, the FOP
The optical path is unchanged as long as 3 does not deviate from the optical path. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the structure of an optical module according to the present invention. As described above, since the light transmitted through the FOP 3 is suppressed from being diffused, the optical element 1 inside the package 2 and the other optical component 20 such as the optical fiber 20b outside the package 2 can be optically coupled with high efficiency. I can.

Further, since the FOP 3 does not require alignment, it can be fixed at the same time as it is attached to the package, and the number of manufacturing steps can be reduced. Further, the mounting position of the FOP 3 may be fitted in the through hole 2a of the package 2 as shown in FIG. 1 or may be mounted on the inner wall of the package 2 as shown in FIG. 4, and various mountings are possible. . The mating optical component 20 may be fixed to the end face of the FOP 3 or may be fixed to some pedestal, and can be selected more freely than in the past.

An embodiment of claim 2 is shown in FIG. 1B. The optical element 1 and the optical fiber 5 are aligned with each other by using the guide pin 7 fixed to the FOP 3, but in this case, since no focus is formed, high accuracy is required only for the pin interval, and the FOP 3 The pin fixing position to and the mounting position of the FOP 3 to the package 2 do not require so much accuracy. An embodiment of claims 3 and 4 is shown in FIG. 1C. The present invention is particularly effective in the optical coupling between the array type element 9 and the multi-core tape fiber 11 shown in this example. The multi-core tape fiber 11 has an optical fiber diameter of 125 μm and an optical fiber pitch of 25.
The most popular one is 0 μm. Therefore, the light emitting portions (light receiving portions) of the array type element 9 are also designed with a pitch of 250 μm. However, since the output light of the optical element is diffused, when the distance between the element and the optical fiber is increased, the problem that the diffused light is incident on the adjacent optical fiber occurs. As described above, if the FOP 3 is used, this diffusion can be suppressed, so that the incidence on the adjacent optical fiber can be prevented.

It should be noted that FIG. 1C is an embodiment, and the array type element is not limited to a one-dimensional array, that is, a linear array,
It can also be a two-dimensional array, ie a planar array. Further, in the case of FIG. 1C, it is necessary to align a plurality of parallel optical paths of the array-type element 9 and the optical axes of the individual strands of the end face of the multi-core tape fiber 11, so that as shown in FIG. 1B. The guide pin 7 may be provided.

In FIGS. 1B and 1C, the optical module may have an optical connector structure that can be inserted into and removed from the ferrule 8 with a guide hole or the multi-core ferrule 10. In that case, F
It is desirable to fit the end face of the OP to the ferrule (Claim 5).

[0017]

As described above, in the present invention, the light of the optical element 1 or 9 is guided to the outside of the package by the fiber optic plate (FOP) 3, so that the optical elements 1, 9 and FOP 3 are connected to each other. Therefore, the number of assembling steps of the optical module 100 can be reduced accordingly.

The FOP used in the present invention can be easily coupled to each chip of the array type optical element 9 or each strand of the mating multi-core tape fiber 20b simultaneously, so that the array type optical element or the multi-core tape. An optical module adapted to a fiber can be easily realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a state in which output light of an optical element is diffused, where A is a case where FOP is not used and B is a case where FOP is used.

[Figure 3] Fiber optic plate (FOP)
Sectional view perpendicular to the light guiding direction of.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing another mounting state of the FOP 3 to the package 2.

FIG. 5A is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional optical module,
B is a sectional view showing a main part of A, and C is a sectional view showing another example of a conventional optical module.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A package in which a through hole is formed on a side surface, an optical element (a light emitting element or a light receiving element) held in the package so as to face the through hole, and the package which closes the through hole. Housed and held in a package,
A fiber that guides the output light of the optical element and radiates it to the counterpart optical component disposed outside the package, or guides the output light of the counterpart optical component and makes it enter the optical element.
An optical module comprising: an optical plate (FOP). 2. The optical module according to claim 1, wherein a guide pin used for coupling with the mating optical component is led out from the end surface of the fiber optic plate on the side of the through hole. . 3. The optical module according to claim 1, wherein the optical element is an element formed by arraying a plurality of chips. 4. The light according to claim 1, wherein the end surface of the fiber optic plate on the side of the through hole is arranged so as to be capable of being optically coupled to the end surface of the multi-core tape fiber on the other side. module. 5. The optical module according to claim 1, further comprising an optical connector mechanism that can be inserted into and removed from a mating optical component.