JPS63301005A - Optical fiber array - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the reliability at the time of connection with an optical component of glass by composing an optical fiber of a substrate made of glass, a presser plate of glass, and a fixed plate of photosensitive glass. CONSTITUTION:The optical fiber consists of the glass-made substrate 1, the glass-made presser plate 2 where a recessed part 21 of depth corresponding to the thickness of the coating part of an optical fiber 4 for fixing the optical fiber 4 on the substrate 1 across its coating part is formed and the fixed plate 3 which is made of the photosensitive glass having grooves 31 where optical fiber bare wires 41 are put at desired intervals at the front end and intervals of an array of optical fibers 4 with coatings at the rear end so that the intervals vary gradually. Thus, the substrate 1, pressure plate 2, and fixed plate 3 are all made of glass, so the reliability of connection with an optical component made of glass is improved.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to an optical fiber array in which end faces of optical fibers are arranged in a line at arbitrary intervals on the same line.

[Conventional technology]

An optical fiber array is used to couple a large number of optical fibers to an optical component such as an optical waveguide type multiplexer/demultiplexer, and a conventional optical fiber array was constructed as shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, a nylon coated optical fiber 4 is sandwiched between a metal substrate 5 and a metal holding plate 6. The nylon coat 42 of the nylon coated optical fiber 4 is peeled off at the tip side, so that the bare optical fiber 41 is exposed. Considering the thickness of the nylon cords 1 to 42, a recess 61 is formed on the lower surface side of the holding plate 6 halfway from the rear end. Then, the holding plate 6 is loosely screwed and fixed to the upper surface of the metal substrate 5 via the spacer 53, so that the nylon coat 42 portion of the nylon coated optical fiber 4 is loosely sandwiched and temporarily fixed. The reason why the bare optical fiber 41 is temporarily fixed in this manner is to allow the bare optical fiber 41 to move freely within the gap created between the metal substrate 5 and the holding plate 6. Therefore, the bare optical fibers 41 are appropriately gathered to the center side, and the fixing plate 7
The fixing plate 7 is fixed to the metal substrate 5 with screws while making sure that each bare optical fiber 41 enters the groove 71 formed on the lower surface, and then the holding plate 6 is firmly fixed with the screws. The spacing is determined so that the end surfaces of the bare optical fibers 41 are lined up at a desired spacing on the front end surface 51 of the metal substrate 5. From the viewpoint of accuracy and ease of processing, photosensitive glass is used as the fixing plate 7, and the grooves 71 are formed by etching using a mask. In this way, an optical fiber array is obtained in which the end faces of the bare optical fibers 41 are arranged with high precision on the front end face 51 at intervals defined by the grooves 71, and the nylon coated optical fibers 4 are drawn out from the rear end face 52. In this way, the end faces of the bare optical fibers 41 are lined up on the same line at a desired interval on the front end face 51 of the metal substrate 5, so that coupling with optical components such as an optical waveguide type multiplexer/demultiplexer is facilitated. becomes easier. Here, metal was selected as the material for the metal plate 5 and the holding plate 6 that sandwich the optical fiber 4, because it is necessary to temporarily fix the bare optical fibers 41 so that they can be moved freely to gather them together. This is because it is most convenient to secure it loosely with screws, and for that purpose it was necessary to choose a metal that can be easily machined with screw holes.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, such conventional optical fiber arrays
It is often joined to an optical component having an end face made of glass material, but since the front end face 51 is made of different materials such as metal and glass, there is a problem in reliability when this front end face 51 is made into an optical component with adhesive or the like. becomes. For example, when a heat cycle is applied, the bond between the optical fiber array and the optical component may come undone due to the difference in coefficient of thermal expansion. Another problem is that, after temporarily fixing the optical fiber 4 with the holding plate 6, it is very difficult to gather the bare optical fibers 41 and fit them into the socket 71. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an improved optical fiber array with improved reliability and ease of arranging optical fibers.

[Means to solve the problem]

The optical fiber array according to the present invention includes a substrate made of glass, and a concave portion having a depth corresponding to the thickness of the coating portion of the optical fiber, on which the optical fiber is sandwiched and fixed between the coating portions of the glass substrate. The front end of the glass holding plate and the bare optical fibers are at the desired spacing, and the rear end is the spacing when the coated optical fibers are arranged, and the spacing changes gradually between them. and a photosensitive glass fixing plate with grooves formed therein.

[For production]

Optical fibers are composed of a glass substrate, a glass holding plate, and a photosensitive glass fixing plate, and since they are all glass, reliability is improved when bonded to glass optical components. . In addition, the grooves provided on the fixing plate for the bare optical fibers to enter are at the same intervals as when the coated optical fibers are arranged at the rear end, so it is extremely easy to insert the bare optical fibers into the grooves at the rear end. . Once the bare optical fiber enters the groove at the rear end, even if the groove spacing is the desired one at the front end, the interval will gradually change from the rear end to the front end. So, just fold down the front end and go.
The bare optical fiber enters the groove up to the front end portion. Therefore, there is no need to take the trouble of gathering the bare optical fibers together, and there is also no need to temporarily fix them with screws or the like since it is necessary to provide a certain degree of freedom for gathering the bare optical fibers. As a result, there is no need to consider the ease of machining screw holes, so a glass plate can be used as the holding plate.

【Example】

In FIG. 1, a substrate 1 is made of glass, and a glass pressing plate 2 is adhered to the upper surface of the substrate 1, so that the nylon coat 42 of the nylon coated optical fiber 4 is sandwiched and pressed within the recess 21. . That is, the recess 21 is provided in a manner corresponding to the outer diameter of the nylon coat 42 both in depth and width. When the nylon coated optical fiber 4 is sandwiched and fixed between the glass substrate 1 and the glass holding plate 2 in this way, the nylon coat 42 is peeled off and the bare optical fiber 41
The exposed tip portion projects from the recess 21 toward the front end surface 11 side. The fixed plate 3 is provided with a groove 31, and photosensitive glass is used so that the groove 31 can be easily formed. That is, by providing a mask on the photosensitive glass and etching it, a groove 31 of an arbitrary shape as shown in FIG. 1 can be formed with high precision. This groove 31 has an outer diameter of 0 on the rear end side of the nylon coated optical fiber 4 of this embodiment.
．． Since it was 9 mm, the intervals are 0.9 mm, and on the front end side, the intervals are arbitrarily fine, and the intervals are curved so that the intervals gradually change between them. The fixing plate 3 is tilted as shown in FIG. 1, and is moved from the rear end toward the glass substrate 1 as indicated by arrow A, and brought into close contact with the glass substrate. Then, since the spacing between the bare optical fibers 41 protruding from the four parts 21 of the holding plate 2 and the spacing between the grooves 31 at the rear end of the fixing plate 3 are made the same, each bare optical fiber 41 is inserted into each groove 31. It will be easy to get into it. Next, by folding down the front end as shown by the arrow, the bare optical fiber 41 will gradually enter the front end of the groove 31 while also bending along the gently curved groove 31. . Therefore, the operation of fitting the bare optical fiber 41 into the groove 31 can be performed very easily. In other words, the task of arranging the bare optical fibers 41 at desired intervals on the front end surface 11 becomes easy. When the bare optical fiber 41 is in the groove 31 in this way, the fixing plate 3 is fixed to the glass substrate 1 with adhesive, and the bare optical fiber 41 protruding from the front end surface 11 is cut. Processing is performed to form the same surface as the front end surface 11. Since the optical fiber array thus produced is entirely made of glass, when its front end surface 11 is bonded to a glass optical component, there is no difference in coefficient of thermal expansion and high bonding reliability can be obtained. Also, the bare optical fiber 41 is inserted into the groove 31.
The fitting work can be easily done with the holding plate 2 fixed rather than temporarily fixed, so the holding plate 2 can be directly fixed with adhesive without temporarily fixing it to the board 1 with screws. There is no need to provide one, and a glass holding plate 2 can be used. Furthermore, since they are all made of glass, ultraviolet rays can pass through the glass and irradiate the adhesive, making it possible to use an ultraviolet curable adhesive to bond the glass substrate 1 to the holding plate 2 and fixing plate 3. can.

【Effect of the invention】

According to the optical fiber array of the present invention, since it is entirely made of glass, the reliability of bonding with optical components made of glass is improved. Further, the work of arranging optical fibers can be easily performed.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional example. 1...Glass substrate, 11.51...Front end surface, 12.
52... Rear end surface, 2... Glass pressing plate, 21.
61... recess, 3.7... fixing plate, 31.71...
・Groove, 4...Nylon coated optical fiber, 41...
Optical fiber bare wire, 42...Nylon coat, 53...
·Spacer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A glass substrate and a glass holding plate on which an optical fiber is fixed by sandwiching the optical fiber between its coating parts, and has a recessed part with a depth corresponding to the thickness of the coating part of the optical fiber. And, for the bare optical fiber to enter,
An optical fiber array having a photosensitive glass fixing plate having grooves formed therein at a desired spacing at the front end and at the spacing of the coated optical fibers at the rear end, with the spacing gradually changing therebetween.