JPH10115728A - Substrate for optical fiber array, optical fiber array and its production - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain optical fiber arrays having good efficiency and good quality by providing the central part of a substrate with a bumper plate. SOLUTION: A strip-like V-grooved substrate 32 is prepd. by providing the substrate with surface flat parts for separating a prescribed number of aligning grooves 320, such as V grooves, by each group. The strip-like optical fiber ribbons exposed of the parts to be housed in the grooves of the optical fibers 20 by removing the coating ends of these parts are inserted into the respective aligning grooves 320 by butting the front ends of the fiber ribbons against the wall-like bumper plate 324a disposed in the position of a cutting line 324 at the center of the respective aligning grooves 320 and are fixed by UV curing resins. The point of the bumper plate 324a of the substrate 32 is then cut straight by a cutting blade to form two blocks. The exposed end faces 340 and the fiber ends are polished simultaneously with cutting by a diamond saw. The resulted two blocks are cut to units respectively at the points of the smooth surfaces for sepn. of the substrates, by which the many optical fiber arrays are produced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical fiber array substrate and an optical fiber array connected to an optical waveguide or an optical component.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When connecting an optical waveguide and an optical fiber array, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), a plurality of optical fibers 20 are used.
2, the optical fibers 20 are inserted into the respective alignment grooves 300 of the grooved substrate 30 with their end faces aligned, and
The optical fiber array 10 is fixed with an adhesive, and the end face after curing with the adhesive or the like is polished, or as shown in FIG. An optical fiber array 11 attached and fixed from the upper surface of a fiber 20 is known.

[0003] Such an optical fiber array 10 or 11
Since it was manufactured one by one, it takes time to change the material, it is difficult to handle because the substrate is small, and there is also a processing problem in polishing, and as a method of solving these difficulties, the present inventors have 4 was proposed. The outline is as shown in FIG.
Is provided with a flat surface portion 322 for separating each group, and a strip-shaped alignment groove substrate 32 having a number of groups of alignment grooves.
(V groove in the figure), and an optical fiber having an intermediate strip-shaped portion 20a which is exposed by removing the coating of the portion for accommodating the optical fiber 20 in the groove 320 as shown in FIG. Is fixed one by one, and then cut along a cutting line 324 in the middle of the groove as shown in FIG.
a, 32b, the exposed front end surface (cut surface) 340 is polished, and then cut along a cutting line 326 in the middle of the flat surface portion 322, as shown in FIG. Has produced a method of manufacturing and has achieved some success.

[0004]

However, in the optical fiber array according to the above-mentioned method, although the conventional problem of manufacturing with one optical fiber array can be solved, the following problems are solved. The need was felt.
That is, since one optical fiber is mounted in one alignment groove, in this case, the optical fiber is cut at an intermediate portion thereof. It is necessary to remove the coating at an intermediate position where the coating is applied to form a strip, and this coating removal operation is performed using a cutting coating stripping tool, a solvent, a heating tool, or the like. If it is not possible to clean and remove the coating only in a certain area for the purpose, it is not possible to start over, so the optical fiber must be discarded and another optical fiber must be prepared as a material, resulting in waste. In addition, since the length of each optical fiber to be inserted into the alignment groove is usually different, it is difficult to select which part is the coating stripping part. Also, although not shown, two sets of optical fiber tapes AB are attached to each tape. Mounting special optical fibers, such as alternately inserting and arranging optical fibers in the grooves of the array, has been more difficult.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has as a result of intensive studies, as a result, an end of an optical fiber itself is exposed for a predetermined length from both sides of an optical fiber array substrate. It has been found that it is extremely easy to manufacture the optical fiber array by inserting it into the insertion groove of the substrate, and it is possible to manufacture an optical fiber array with high accuracy.

That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, in a substrate with an alignment groove provided with a plurality of parallel optical fiber insertion grooves, an end of an optical fiber end to be inserted into a center position of the optical fiber insertion groove of the substrate is provided. An optical fiber array substrate provided with a backing plate.
2. The optical fiber array substrate according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the butting plate at the end of the optical fiber is smaller than the thickness of the cutting blade. Using an array substrate, a plurality of parallel optical fiber ends are inserted and fixed, cut at the abutment plate, and polished, wherein the invention of claim 4 is: The coating of the end portion of the optical fiber is exposed to the substrate according to claim 1 for a predetermined length, and the exposed end of the optical fiber is inserted so as to abut against the abutment plate from both sides of the substrate, and then the optical fiber is removed. After fixing to the board,
A method of manufacturing an optical fiber array, comprising cutting at the position of the abutment plate to form two blocks, mirror-polishing the cut end face, and cutting the substrate for each optical fiber group.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 1 (a), a predetermined number of alignment grooves 320 such as V-grooves are provided with a flat surface portion 322 for separating each group (six in the figure) into a plurality of groups. A strip-shaped V-groove substrate 32 is prepared, and as shown in FIG.
The strip-shaped optical fiber tape exposed by removing the coating end of the portion to be accommodated in the groove of the optical fiber 20 is placed in each alignment groove 3.
The distal end of the fiber tape is abutted against a wall-shaped abutment plate 324a provided at the position of the cutting line 324 at the center of 20, and inserted, and fixed with, for example, an ultraviolet curing resin. Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the location of the abutment plate 324a of the substrate 32 is cut straight by a cutting blade 36 into two blocks. Exposed end face 34
The 0 and fiber ends are cut and polished with a diamond saw.

The abutment plate 324 on the substrate 32
a is an enlarged cross-sectional view as shown in FIG. 2 (a), the whole is a rectangular substrate, and the thickness of the blade of the blade may be thinner than about 0.5 mm. Shows the case where the butting plate 324a is embedded in the groove on the block surface. The butting plate 324a disappears by cutting. Further, as shown in FIG. 2A, a wall-shaped abutment plate 324a is formed.
May be cut on both sides except for the portion that will become the abutment plate when the groove is cut, and the structure having the target shape wall-shaped abutment plate 324a may be formed by metal working. May be provided by molding at the time of molding the substrate. The two blocks obtained in this manner are cut into units at the portions of the separating smooth surface 322 of the substrate to produce a large number of optical fiber arrays as shown in FIG. In addition,
When the V-groove block is made of glass, a block forming method by a glass transfer method can be adopted. According to this method, the V-groove and the butting plate can be formed simultaneously by engraving the shapes of the V-groove and the butting plate on the forming piece.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the cost is not increased because the substrate is formed by merely providing the abutment plate at the center portion of the conventional substrate with a very simple structure, and the cost is not increased. Since there is no need to peel it off, it is only necessary to peel off the coating at the end and install it.This eliminates the conventional failures caused by peeling off the coating, greatly reduces the loss of the optical fiber, and consequently extremely An efficient and high-quality array with optical fibers can be obtained. In particular, even when the optical fibers of two optical fiber tapes are alternately mounted in the alignment groove, the mounting can be easily performed without any trouble.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a manufacturing process of an optical fiber array according to the present invention. FIG. 1 (a) shows an optical fiber having exposed end portions on a substrate having a number of alignment grooves provided with a butting plate in the center. FIG. 1B is a perspective view showing a state where the optical fiber array is cut into two at the position of the abutment plate. FIG. 1C is a perspective view showing an array with optical fibers cut out for each optical fiber group. Perspective view

FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which an optical fiber is attached to a substrate in the present invention. FIG. 2B is a perspective view illustrating a relationship between the substrate and the abutment plate in the present invention.

FIG. 3 (a) is a perspective view of a conventional array with optical fibers in a state where six optical fibers are fixed to a substrate with an adhesive. (B) A perspective view of a conventional array with optical fibers in a state in which six optical fibers are attached to a substrate and a lid is fixed.

4A and 4B are perspective views showing a manufacturing process of a conventional optical fiber array. FIG. 4A is a perspective view of an initial substrate. FIG. 4B is a perspective view showing a state where an optical fiber with a central portion exposed is inserted. FIG. 4 (c) is a perspective view of a state in which this is cut into two blocks at the center position of the substrate. FIG. 4 (d) is a perspective view of an array with optical fibers which is cut out for each optical fiber group.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 11 Array with optical fiber 14 Array with strip-shaped optical fiber 20 Optical fiber 20a Strip-shaped portion 30 Substrate with groove 31 Cover 32 Substrate with strip-shaped alignment groove 32a, 32b Block 36 Blade 300 Alignment groove 302 Front end face 320 Alignment groove 322 Flat part 324 Middle cutting line 324a Butting plate 326 Middle cutting line of flat surface part 340 Front end face

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An alignment groove substrate provided with a plurality of parallel optical fiber insertion grooves, wherein an abutment plate for an optical fiber end to be inserted from both sides is provided at a center position of the optical fiber insertion groove of the substrate. A substrate for an optical fiber array. 2. The optical fiber array substrate according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the abutting plate at the end of the optical fiber is smaller than the thickness of the cutting blade. 3. An optical fiber, wherein a plurality of parallel optical fiber ends are inserted and fixed by using the optical fiber array substrate according to claim 1, and are cut and polished at the position of an abutting plate. array. 4. The substrate according to claim 1, wherein a coating on an end of the optical fiber is exposed for a predetermined length, and the exposed end of the optical fiber is exposed.
After inserting the optical fiber into the abutment plate of the substrate so as to abut it, and then fixing the optical fiber to the substrate, cut at the position of the abutment plate to form two blocks. A method of manufacturing an optical fiber array, comprising cutting a substrate for each optical fiber group.