JPS63269114A - Optical switch - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To switch an optical path by means of simple constitution and positional control requiring no accuracy by moving a moving member like steps and changing the position of incident light upon a single 1st reflecting face. CONSTITUTION:A composite prism 9 mounted on the moving member 21 and having the single 1st reflecting face 10 and three 2nd light reflecting faces 11-13 is moved like steps in an arrow 14 direction by means of the moving member 21 to change the position of incident light upon the 1st light reflection face 10. Consequently, light projected from an optical fiber 1 can be made incident upon an optical fiber 2, 3 or 4 and the titled switch is functioned as a light changing switch.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an optical switch for switching optical paths in optical fiber communications and the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Conventionally, this type of optical switch has had a configuration as shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, optical fibers 1', 2', and 3 are transmitted, 4' is a focusing Rondo lens, 6' is a total reflection mirror, and 6' is a rotation axis of the total reflection mirror 6'. In the same figure, light 7' emitted from an optical fiber 1' is converted into a parallel beam at the output end of the converging rod lens 4', and is then reflected by a total reflection mirror 6' tilted with respect to the optical axis. reflected. The reflected light 8' enters the focusing rod lens 4' again at a certain angle with respect to the incident light, so that it is focused again and enters the optical fiber 2' located at a different position from the optical fiber 1'. . Next, when the total reflection mirror 6' is rotated 180 degrees around the axis 6', the direction of inclination of the total reflection mirror 6' changes, so that the light emitted from the optical fiber 1' follows the above-mentioned behavior of light. The light is reflected by the total reflection mirror 6t″C and enters the optical fiber 31.

From the above operation, by rotating the total reflection mirror 61 around the axis 6I, a light changeover switch having two or more switching operations was constructed.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In such a conventional configuration, the light emitted from the optical fiber 1' is reflected by the rotating total reflection mirror 6' and then switched to the optical fiber 2' or 3'. There is a problem that a slight rotational angle error of the mirror 5 results in a loss of light due to optical path switching. In particular, the core diameter of the optical fiber is 10
When a small single-mode optical fiber is used, there is a problem in that it requires highly accurate rotation angle control on a second-by-second basis of 1 degree or less.

The present invention is intended to solve these problems, and is intended to provide an optical switch that can switch optical paths with a simple configuration and position control that does not require precision.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has a single first light reflecting surface tilted with respect to the light incident axis, and a light reflecting surface at an arbitrary position on this reflecting surface. A plurality of second light beams are provided with reflective surfaces parallel to the first reflective surface that receive the reflected light and reflect it again, each at a different distance from the first reflective surface. A reflective surface is provided on a moving member that moves in a stepwise manner to constitute an optical switch.

Effect of the present invention With the above-described configuration, the movable member is moved in steps to change the position of the light incident on the single first reflecting surface, so that the light from the first reflecting surface is changed in accordance with the position. Since the light is reflected toward the second reflective surface provided at a different distance, the incident light can be switched to an arbitrary optical path, functioning as an excellent optical switch.

Embodiment FIGS. 1 and 2 are block diagrams of an optical switch according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the same numbers indicate the same members.

In Figure 1, 1.2.3 and 4 are optical fibers, 5
, 6.7 and 8 are focusing rod lenses, 9 is an angle of about 4
It is a composite prism made by joining three 5-degree parallelogram prisms, and has a first light reflecting surface 1o and a plurality of second light reflecting surfaces 11, 12 and 13. 14 is an arrow indicating the moving direction of the compound prism, 16 is an arrow explaining the optical path,
Reference numeral 21 denotes a moving member on which the composite prism 9 is placed and moves in parallel in a stepwise manner in the direction of the arrow 14.

The configuration and operation thereof will be explained below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. First, in FIG. 1, light emitted from an optical fiber 1 passes through a convergent rod lens 6, becomes a parallel beam, and enters a compound prism 9. The incident light is optical path 1
6, the first light reflecting surface 1 of the composite prism 9
0 at about 45 degrees, is reflected at the same 45 degrees, and travels through the compound prism 9. Next, the parallel light ray 16 is parallel to the first light reflecting surface 10 and enters the opposing second light reflecting surface 11 at about 45 degrees, and after being reflected at the same 45 degrees, it is focused. The light enters the optical rod lens 6, is focused, and enters the optical fiber 2.

The feature of this configuration is that the distance 16 between the first light reflecting surface 10 and the second light reflecting surface 11 of the composite prism 9 and the axis offset distance 17 between the optical fiber 1 and the optical fiber 2 are made equal. As long as the light reflected by the first light reflecting surface 1° is incident on the second light reflecting surface 11, the composite prism 9 can be rotated twice in the vertical and horizontal directions within the same plane. Even if it moves, the light emitted from optical fiber 1 is transferred to optical fiber 2.
It is possible to reliably enter the

Next, a case where the movable member 21 moves in parallel in the direction shown by the arrow 14 will be described using FIG. 2. Moving member 2
When the compound prism 9 is moved in the direction of the arrow 14 by one step or a plurality of steps by a driving source such as a step motor, and the compound prism 9 comes to rest at the position shown in FIG.
Similarly to the explanation of FIG. 1, the light 1B that is emitted from the optical fiber 1 and turned into parallel rays by the converging rod lens 6 enters the first light reflecting surface 1o. At this time, the position of the light incident on the first light reflecting surface 10 is different from that in FIG. The light is incident on the reflective surface 12. Second light reflecting surface 1
The parallel light ray 18 reflected again at 2 is focused by a converging rod lens 7 and enters the optical fiber 3. At this time, the optical fiber 1 and the optical fiber 3 are arranged so that the axis offset distance 19 is equal to the distance of 2° between the first light reflecting surface 1o and the second light reflecting surface 12.

Furthermore, when the moving member 21 is moved stepwise in the direction of the arrow 14 and the composite prism 9 is moved in parallel, the light emitted from the optical fiber 1 is similarly transferred to the second light reflecting surface 1.
Since it is reflected by 3, it can be made to enter the optical fiber 4.

As described above, in this embodiment, the single first light reflecting surface 1
A moving member 21 moves the composite prism 9 provided with 0 and 3 second light reflecting surfaces 11, 12° 13 in a stepwise manner.
By changing the position of the light incident on the first light reflecting surface 1o by moving the light using the functions as a changeover switch.

In this embodiment, there is a single first light reflecting surface 10 that is approximately 45 degrees parallel to the optical axis, and a plurality of parallel second light reflecting surfaces 11, 12, 10, 13 was explained using a plurality of parallelogram prisms, but total reflection mirrors, etc.
Any material may be used as long as it reflects light.

Further, although the explanation has been given with an inclination of about 45 degrees with respect to the optical axis, the angle may be any number as long as it is inclined with respect to the optical axis.

Furthermore, although the number of optical path switching is three in the example, if the number of second light reflecting surfaces is increased or a plurality of compound prisms etc. as described in the present example are used, the light can be switched. It goes without saying that the number may be any number greater than or equal to 2.

In addition, in this example, the light switching function was explained by moving the composite prism that constitutes the first and second light reflecting surfaces in a fixed direction using a moving member that moves in steps. No mention of direction.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the position of light incident on a single first light reflecting surface that is inclined with respect to the optical axis is moved in a stepwise manner using a moving member. By changing
A second light reflecting surface provided parallel to this can be selected, which has the effect of easily switching the optical path.

Furthermore, since positional accuracy of the light incident on the single first light reflecting surface is not required, there is no need for accuracy in movement and stationary movement of moving members that move in steps, and assembly is easy.
It has the advantage of being mass-producible and can be applied to single-mode optical fibers with small core diameters, making it possible to provide optical switches that are superior to conventional ones.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are block diagrams of an optical switch according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional optical switch. 1-4...Optical fiber, 6-8...Focusing loft lens, 9...Composite prism, 1o
...First light reflecting surface, 11-13...
- Second light reflecting surface, 14...Arrow indicating the moving direction of the composite prism, 15.18...Arrow indicating the optical path, 21...Moving member. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person 1~
4-first phyno, 5-8-one convergence low, drez 9-one flag also prism IO-m=first helmet extension 1rrv. 15-Arrow pointing to child trap 27-pt7Ji bar arrival 1 Figures 1 to 4-119 Fibers 5 to 8-1 collection, 'f lens 9-1 flag spring prism 10--1 first helmet 21-Instruction feather

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A single first light reflecting surface provided at an angle with respect to the optical axis, and a position where the light reflected by this first reflecting surface can be received, and the light on the first reflecting surface. a plurality of second light reflecting surfaces parallel to the first reflecting surface, which are provided at positions different from each other at distances from the first reflecting surface, corresponding to the reflecting positions of the first reflecting surface; An optical switch comprising a moving member that moves one reflective surface and the plurality of second reflective surfaces in a stepwise manner. (2) The optical switch according to claim 1, wherein the single first light reflecting surface and the plurality of second light reflecting surfaces are composed of two or more parallelogram prisms. (3) The optical switch according to claim 1, wherein the single first light reflecting surface and the plurality of second light reflecting surfaces are provided at an angle of about 45 degrees with respect to the optical axis.