JPS615205A - Jig for treatment of optical fiber end face - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a jig for end face treatment capable of finishing the end face of an optical fiber into a specular surface easily and quickly and reducing the connection loss by press-fitting the end face of the optical fiber to a glass substrate provided in the front part of a hear part and finishing it into a specular surface. CONSTITUTION:The jig for treatment of the optical fiber end face consists of a heater part 1, a circuit part 2, and a feeding part 3. In the heater part 1, a glass substrate 6 is held by a frame 7, and electrodes 5 and 5 are provided in the rear face part of the glass substrate 6, and a heater 4 is arranged in the position of the rear face part of the glass substrate 6 corresponding to the position to which the end face of the optical fiber is press-fitted in the front face part of the glass substrate 6. Electrodes 5 and 5 are put partially on both side parts of the heater 4. The end face of an optical fiber 8 to which a retaining metallic jig is set is press-fitted and fixed to the front face part of the glass substrate 6 in the heater part of the jig after a coating 9 is removed to expose a strand 10. A current is flowed to the heater 4 to fuse the end face of the optical fiber 8, and it is cooled and is formed into a specular surface.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a jig for processing the end face of an optical fiber using a plastic fiber.

[Background technology]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, optical transmission technology using glass fibers has made remarkable progress in optical communication systems and the like. In addition to the above-mentioned glass fibers, plastic fibers are also available as optical fibers that serve as light transmission media, but their practical use has lagged behind that of glass fibers. Other components for optical communication systems that use plastic fiber as a transmission medium include:
Optical connectors for connection, optical splitters, optical demultiplexers/combiners, optical switches, optical modules (optical to electrical/electrical to optical converters), etc. are required.

When connecting plastic fibers, it is necessary to treat the end faces of the plastic fibers. Conventionally, the end faces of the plastic fibers were polished with a file, then puff polished, and then connected.
It is difficult to process the end face uniformly and there are many variations, resulting in large optical signal losses.

In addition, when connecting plastic fibers, a method of heat-sealing the end faces of the plastic fibers together is often used, but conventional heaters for heat-sealing are large, making it inconvenient to carry.・I did.

In these methods, in order to connect a pre-wired plastic fiber to another plastic fiber, the end of the pre-wired plastic fiber is left extra long, or the pre-wired plastic fiber is removed and polished. Otherwise, they had to be connected by heat fusion, which required a lot of work.

[Purpose of the invention]

Therefore, this invention is compact and convenient to carry.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an end face processing jig that can easily and quickly perform mirror finishing and reduce connection loss.

[Disclosure of the invention]

The inventors have made extensive studies to achieve the above objectives. As a result, we have now completed this invention.

The optical fiber end face processing jig according to the present invention is an optical fiber end face processing jig consisting of a heater section, a circuit section, and a power supply section, the front section of which is made of glass that is crimped to the end surface of the optical fiber. It is characterized in that the substrate is provided on the front side of the heater section.

Hereinafter, an embodiment thereof will be described in detail based on the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the optical fiber end face processing jig (hereinafter referred to as the "jig") consists of a heater section 1, a circuit section 2, and a power supply section 3. A glass substrate 6 is held in the heater section 1 by a frame 7. Electrodes 5, 5 are provided on the rear surface of the glass substrate 6, and electrodes 5, 5 are provided on the rear surface of the glass substrate 6 at a position corresponding to the position where the end surface of the optical fiber is crimped on the front surface of the glass substrate 6. A heater 4 is provided. On both sides of the heater 4, portions of the electrodes 5.5 are overlapped.

As shown in FIG. 3, the optical fiber 8 to be subjected to end face treatment is made up of a strand 1o consisting of a core and a cladding coated with a coating 9. A holding metal fitting 11 is attached to the tip of the optical fiber 8.

Next, an optical fiber end face treatment process using the jig according to the present invention will be explained. The coating 9 is removed from the end surface of the optical fiber 8 to which the presser metal fitting 11 is attached, leaving the strand 10 exposed. Then, as shown in Figure 3, the unnecessary strands are cut off, leaving an appropriate length. Next, the end face of this optical fiber 8 is attached to the glass substrate 6 of the heater section l of the jig.
Crimp and fix it to the front part of the Then, when a current is applied to the heater 4, since the heater 4 is disposed only at the position on the rear surface of the glass substrate 6 corresponding to the position where the end surface of the optical fiber on the front surface of the glass substrate 6 is crimped, Only the portion of the glass substrate necessary for processing the end face of the optical fiber is heated. In this way, the optical fiber 8 crimped onto the glass substrate 6
Melt the end face of Thereafter, the power supply to the heater 4 is stopped and the heater 4 is cooled. The end face of the optical fiber 8 thus completed is as shown in FIG. 4, and has a mirror surface.

Since the softening point of plastic is around 100° C., the heater of the jig according to the present invention is preferably one that can heat the glass substrate at the portion where the end face of the optical fiber is crimped to around 140° C.

The circuit part of the jig according to this invention includes a temperature compensation mechanism,
It is sufficient to incorporate necessary mechanisms such as a time control mechanism, display mechanism, and current control mechanism.

In consideration of portability, it is desirable to use a rechargeable battery in the power supply portion of the jig according to the present invention.

When the end face of an optical fiber is treated using the jig according to the present invention, the distal end portion 12 of the molten optical fiber is cooled and solidified, and the distal end portion of the optical fiber is slightly removed, as shown in FIG. However, it is extended to the surrounding area. The refractive index of the tip of this elongated plastic fiber changes slightly compared to before melting due to the action of heat. However, in general, the tip of the strand of an optical fiber is originally coated with a material having a refractive index different from that of the core and cladding, and has a thickness of about 10 μm, so that no practical problem occurs.

Next, an example of manufacturing the jig according to the present invention will be described.

[Manufacturing Example 1] The heater part was made of a glass substrate (thickness 0.8 cm, 29φ, product name: Hoya NA40, manufactured by Hoya Glass Co., Ltd.) and a heater (ITO
It consists of a membrane) and an electrode (Au). After thoroughly cleaning the glass substrate, an ITO film that has the characteristics of high stability over time, resistance to oxidation, and high adhesion to the glass substrate is prepared.
After applying sputtering to the rear surface of the glass substrate to a thickness of 2 to 3 μm with a sheet resistance of approximately 1Ω/hole, a thin film was applied to the entire circumference of the glass substrate to further improve the adhesion between the glass substrate and the heater. <Coated with ITO film.

Next, the mask was changed and approximately 5,000 electrodes (Au) were formed by sputtering. A nickel cadmium battery was used for the power supply section.

[Manufacturing Example 2] The glass substrate of the heater section and the heater were the same as Manufacturing Example 1. An alloy containing Ag and Pd in a ratio of 6:4 was used for the electrode. The above alloys are cheaper than Au and have higher hardness, so they have the advantage of having stronger mechanical strength for connection with the power supply electrode, but have the disadvantage of high specific resistance.
The thickness was set to 1.5 μm by sputtering.

[Manufacturing Example 3] The glass substrate of the heater section and the heater were the same as Manufacturing Example 1. Cr was used for the electrode. Since Cr has high adhesion to glass,
A thin layer of 1'To is applied to the entire circumference of the glass substrate as described in Manufacturing Example 1.
The step of coating the membrane becomes unnecessary. However, since the resistivity was high, the thickness was reduced to 2.5 μm by sputtering.

[Manufacturing Example 4] The glass substrate of the heater section was the same as Manufacturing Example 1. The electrodes are the same as in Production Example 3. An alloy of Ni and Cr was used for the heater. This alloy has the advantage of being a relatively inexpensive, stable alloy that does not oxidize, and requiring a short spackling time.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the jig according to the present invention is an optical fiber end face processing jig consisting of a heater part, a circuit part, and a power supply part, and the front part is a glass glass whose front part is crimped to the end face of the optical fiber. It is characterized by the fact that the substrate is provided on the front side of the heater section, and it heats only the part of the glass substrate that is necessary for the end face treatment of the optical fiber, so the heating time is short and the glass Since it is made of material, the time required for cooling is short, so that the end face treatment of the optical fiber can be performed easily and in a short time, resulting in the effect of reducing costs. Furthermore, since the jig according to the present invention is processed so that the end face of the optical fiber is crimped onto the glass substrate, the end face of the optical fiber becomes a mirror surface as far as it can be seen with a microscope. Another effect is that signal loss is reduced. In addition, it is clear from Figures 5 and 6 that the end face is polished with #1000-1200 emery paper and then further polished with borising paper (alumina coated with a thickness of 9 μm). This also brings about the effect that there is less variation in coupling power. Further, although the above-mentioned polishing process takes about 3 minutes, the time required for heating the optical fiber end face using the jig according to the present invention is only 2 to 4 seconds.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the jig according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A in FIG. Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of the optical fiber after end face treatment, Figure 5 is a diagram showing the coupling power of the optical fiber that has been polished, and Figure 6 is a diagram showing the optical fiber treated with the jig according to the present invention. Diagram showing the coupled power of optical fiber. 1...Heater section 2...Circuit section 3...Power supply section
4... Heater 5... Electrode 6... Glass substrate
7...Framework agent Patent attorney Takehiko Rei Matsumoto [Ito Rokuneho Seisho (Method) 1.49 Cow's Beetle' 1982 Patent Application No. 012408 2, Name of Invention Optical Phytsma Edge Surface Treatment Treatment Tool 3: Relationship with Hanyu, the person making the amendment Appointment of patent applicant Address: 1048 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture
Name (583) Matsushita Electric Works Co., Ltd. Representative Ikuo Kobayashi 4, Agent 5 Date of amendment order April 4, 1983 (Shipping date 59.4.24)
6. Description and drawings to be amended 7. Contents of the amendment (1) The following words are inserted between "also" and "end surface" on page 9, line 6 of the specification. Figure 5 shows the histogram of eight samples (average X:
13.62 dBm, δn: o, 495), and FIG. 6 shows a histogram of 10 samples (average , δn: 0
．． (2) On page 9, line 9 to line 10 of the specification, the phrase ``optical fiber...'' was replaced with ``compared to the optical fiber in Figure 5, this invention The optical fiber shown in FIG. 6 using the jig according to the above is corrected as ". (3) Figures 5 and 6 in the attached drawings are corrected as shown in the attached sheet. Fig. 5 Coupling power (dam) Fig. 6 Coupling puff - (dBm) Ento Ishishi Neho Kosho (self-initiated) June 15, 1980 Special 11 FIim 012408 No. 2, Name of invention Optical fiber end face treatment Jig 3, Relationship with the case of the person making the amendment Name of patent applicant Address: 1048 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture
Name (583) Matsushita Electric Works Co., Ltd. Representative Ikuo Kobayashi 4, Agent 6, Specification subject to amendment and drawings 7, Contents of amendment + 1. ) On page 5, line 15 of the specification, next to "...desirable."
um Tin Oxide), metals such as Ni-0r, nitrides such as tantalum nitride, oxides such as ruthenium oxide, etc. are preferably used. ” is inserted. Procedural Amendment (Flag July 23, 1985 2, Name of the invention: Optical fiber end face processing jig 3, Person making the amendment η9 Relationship with the applicant Patent applicant Location: 1048 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Name: 583) Representative of Matsushita Electric Works Co., Ltd. ((71m) Sadao Fujii 4, agent June 28, 1985 6, subject to amendment ' Tsukijingyu Teibo Seisho (self-initiated June 15, 1985)

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) An optical fiber end face processing jig consisting of a heater part, a circuit part, and a power supply part, in which a glass substrate whose front part is crimped to the end face of the optical fiber is installed on the front part of the heater part. An optical fiber end face processing jig characterized by: