TWM509350U - Lens for optical communications - Google Patents

Description

Optical communication lens

The present invention relates to a lens, and more particularly to an optical communication lens.

Referring to Figure 1, a prior art optical communication lens 1 has a plurality of optical elements 11. At least one film layer 12 is formed on the surface of the optical elements 11 by a coating method, and the wavelength and transmittance of light passing therethrough are controlled by the film layer 12, and the light energy passing through the optical element 11 can be reduced. However, the film layer 12 cannot be applied to various environments, and the coating material of the film layer 12 may be deteriorated in quality, changed in characteristics, uneven in appearance, or peeled off due to environmental factors such as high temperature, high humidity, or high temperature and low temperature. And the original optical characteristics are changed, and even lose their effect. On the other hand, the volume of the single optical element 11 is small, but the coating operation is difficult to perform only for a small element, and the coated area is much larger than actually required, and the coating material is wasted.

Referring to Figure 2, the patent US2007273977 (A1) discloses a resinous optical component 2. The resin optical member 2 has a light transmitting region 21 and a light absorbing layer 22 having a high light absorbing property. The light shielding layer 22 is an energy-discoloring resin that absorbs a wavelength band, and has high light absorptivity, and is discolored after being irradiated to a specific optical wavelength band, and is formed in a region other than the light-transmitting region 21 to constitute a light-removing layer. Remove the shading wall of stray light. It can be noted that the color-changing region is limited only to the light-shielding layer 22, not the light-transmitting region 21, because the application of the optical component 2 lies in imaging or illumination, and if the light energy passing through the light-transmitting region 21 is to be attenuated, it is still The surface coating method is achieved because if a color-changing point is generated in the light-transmitting region 21, the imaging or illumination quality is seriously affected.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide an optical communication lens for attenuating light energy and having good environmental tolerance.

Thus, the novel optical communication lens is transparent to light and includes a substrate and at least one lens unit.

The lens unit is formed on the substrate and includes a first surface, a second surface, a first light transmissive region adjacent to the first surface, and a second light transmissive region adjacent to the second surface. a first light transmitting region and a light reducing region of the second light transmitting portion.

Defining an optical axis passing through the first light transmissive region and the second light transmissive region, the optical axis passing through the dimming region, the dimming region having at least one attenuating layer, and the attenuating layer is processed by a high energy beam to form a number The light-shielding carbonization point is used to change the transmittance of light passing through the lens unit, and the transmittance is not more than 70%.

The effect of the novel is that the dimming zone is used for attenuating the light energy, and can be directly processed and formed on the lens unit, and the tolerance of the external environment is consistent.

1‧‧‧Optical communication lens

11‧‧‧Optical components

12‧‧‧ film layer

2‧‧‧Resin optical components

21‧‧‧Lighting area

22‧‧‧Lighting layer

3‧‧‧Substrate

4‧‧‧ lens unit

401‧‧‧ first surface

4011‧‧‧Transmission Department

4012‧‧‧Reflection Department

402‧‧‧ second surface

41‧‧‧First light transmission area

42‧‧‧Second light transmission area

43‧‧‧Light reduction zone

44‧‧‧Attenuation layer

45‧‧‧ shading carbonization point

X‧‧‧ optical axis

Y‧‧‧ axis

Φ‧‧‧diameter

Td‧‧‧ thickness

Tu‧‧‧thickness

Other features and effects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of the drawings, wherein: FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a conventional optical communication lens processed by coating; FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a patent US2007273977 (A1) discloses a resin optical component; FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of the optical lens for optical communication of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the processing operation of the first embodiment; A schematic cross-sectional view showing a lens unit of the first embodiment; and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a second embodiment of the optical lens for optical communication of the present invention.

Before the present invention is described in detail, it should be noted that in the following description, similar elements are denoted by the same reference numerals.

Referring to FIG. 3 to FIG. 5, the first embodiment of the optical lens for optical communication is provided for light penetration, and is mainly suitable for optical communication, such as the light supply communication signal. The first embodiment comprises a substrate 3 and a plurality of lens units 4.

The lens units 4 are formed on the substrate 3 and arranged in an array. A plurality of lens units 4 are included in the first embodiment, but at least one lens unit 4 can be included.

Each lens unit 4 includes a first surface 401, a second surface 402, a first light transmissive region 41 adjacent to the first surface 401, and a proximity The second light transmissive region 42 of the second surface 402 and the dimming region 43 between the first light transmissive region 41 and the second light transmissive region 42.

An optical axis X passing through the first light transmitting region 41 and the second light transmitting region 42 is defined. In the first embodiment, the optical axis X passes through the geometric centers of the first light transmitting region 41 and the second light transmitting region 42, respectively, and is perpendicular to the surface of the substrate 3 and passes through the light reducing region 43.

The dimming zone 43 has at least one attenuating layer 44, the main function of which is to reduce the transmittance of light passage. In the first embodiment, the dimming zone 43 has two layers of attenuating layers 44, but not limited thereto, the number of the attenuating layers 44 may be more than two.

Each of the attenuating layers 44 has at least one light-shielding carbonization point 45, typically consisting of a plurality of light-shielding carbonization points 45 for absorbing a portion of the light and changing the transmittance of light through the lens unit 4. In the first embodiment, each of the attenuating layers 44 has a plurality of regularly arranged light-shielding carbonization points 45. The light-shielding carbonization points 45 of the adjacent attenuating layers 44 are arranged in an up-and-down alignment. Such a misalignment arrangement is one of the ways to adjust the transmittance, but is not limited thereto.

Referring to Figure 4, the dimming zone 43 is processed by a high energy beam (as indicated by the dashed line), such as a laser beam, resulting in carbonization of the original material to form the blackout carbonization points 45. The advantage of this type of processing is that today's technology has a better grasp of the laser, and the laser beam has the characteristics of high energy and can be focused to a small spot, and then combined with a sophisticated positioning system. The spot is formed at an ideal position, and even a plurality of light-shielding carbonization points 45 can be processed one by one and can be arranged in a regular order.

Referring to FIG. 5, the surface of the lens unit 4 is spherical or aspherical. The free curved surface, the flat surface, the combination of the above surface shapes, or other surface structures capable of deflecting the light are combined to deflect the light into and out of the lens unit 4.

The material of the lens unit 4 is one of a polymer material, a glass, and a semiconductor material, but is not limited thereto, and other materials which can be carbonized and discolored by laser energy accumulation can be considered.

The diameter Φ of the lens unit 4 does not exceed 3 millimeters (mm). More preferably, in the first embodiment, the diameter Φ is 0.5 mm.

The thickness Td of the dimming zone 43 is not more than two-thirds of the thickness Tu of the lens unit 4.

Referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 5, in general use, the optical communication signal is changed by the novel: the incident optical communication signal enters through the first light-transmitting area 41, and after being absorbed by the portion of the light-reducing area 43, The second light transmissive area 42 exits as an attenuated optical communication signal. The energy ratio of the attenuated optical communication signal to the incident optical communication signal is equivalent to the transmittance. After the optical communication signal is effectively dimmed by the present invention, the transmittance is not more than 70%. The transmittance can be changed by adjusting the number of the attenuating layers 44 of the dimming zone 43 or the number and distribution of the shading carbonization points 45. The effect is shown in FIG. The darker color indicates that the dimming effect of the dimming zone 43 is higher than that of the other side, and the distribution of the shading carbonization points 45 is dense.

Referring to Figure 6, the second embodiment of the present optical communication lens is substantially similar to the first embodiment, with the main difference being in the first surface 401, so that the path through which light passes is slightly different. The first surface 401 has a The light transmitting portion 4011 through which light passes, and a reflecting portion 4012 which is inclined to the surface of the substrate 3 and for reflecting light. In the second embodiment, the reflecting portion 4012 is at an angle of 135 degrees to the surface of the substrate 3. The optical axis X is perpendicular to the surface of the substrate 3 and passes through the first light transmitting region 41, the light reducing region 43, and the second light transmitting region 42, respectively. To facilitate explanation of the path through which light passes, an axis Y perpendicular to the optical axis X is defined, which axis Y passes through the light transmitting portion 4011 of the first surface 401. In use, the incident optical communication signal enters the first transparent area 41 from the transparent portion 4011 of the first surface 401 along the axis Y, and hits the reflective portion 4012 to reflect the optical communication signal through 90 degrees. After passing through the dimming zone 43 along the optical axis X and passing through the second transparent surface 42 through the second surface 402, the effect of dimming can also be achieved.

Referring to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the main function of the present invention is to reduce the energy of the optical communication signal, which is different from most lenses in that the optical axis X passes through the dimming zone 43, in other words, the path through which the optical communication signal passes will pass the subtraction. The light zone 43, which in turn achieves the effect of attenuating light energy, rather than 100% penetration. It is particularly emphasized that the application of optical communication is to extract light energy rather than images captured by imaging or illumination applications, so that the formation of such light-shielding carbonization points 45 in the dimming zone 43 has no adverse effect.

In order to achieve the main effect and avoid the lack of prior art, the most important characteristics and advantages of the new model are: the lens unit 4 only needs to use the same material, and does not need to be added, attached, coated, or coated. Heterogeneous materials do not require additional mechanisms such as additional electronic controls. Conveniently, a plurality of uniformly arranged shading carbonization points 45 can be fabricated inside the component by simply adjusting the laser beam, which is simple to manufacture and low in cost. . The position and distribution state of the shading carbonization points 45 can be adjusted according to requirements, and different optical transmittances can be generated to accurately control the energy of the optical communication signal.

Because the new model does not use externally added heterogeneous materials, another advantage is that the material selection is simpler and simpler, and the materials with high environmental tolerance and non-hazardous materials can be preferentially selected. In use, the present invention can continue to maintain its own material properties, keeping the lens units 4 all having the same environmental tolerance.

Looking at the above effects, it is indeed possible to achieve the purpose of this novel.

However, the above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and when it is not possible to limit the scope of the present invention, any simple equivalent changes and modifications made in accordance with the scope of the present patent application and the contents of the patent specification are It is still within the scope of this new patent.

3‧‧‧Substrate

4‧‧‧ lens unit

Claims (9)

An optical communication lens comprising: a substrate; and at least one lens unit formed on the substrate, and comprising a first surface, a second surface, a first light transmissive region adjacent to the first surface, and adjacent to the lens a second light transmitting region of the second surface, and a light reducing region located in the first light transmitting region and the second light transmitting portion, defining an optical axis passing through the first light transmitting region and the second light transmitting region The optical axis passes through the dimming zone, the dimming zone has at least one attenuation layer, and the attenuating layer is processed by a high-energy beam to form a plurality of shading carbonization points, and is used to change the transmittance of light passing through the lens unit. The penetration rate is not more than 70%. The optical communication lens of claim 1, wherein the dimming zone comprises a plurality of attenuating layers, each attenuating layer being composed of a plurality of shading carbonization points. The optical communication lens according to claim 2, wherein each of the attenuating layers is regularly arranged by the light-shielding carbonization points, and the light-shielding carbonization points of the adjacent attenuating layers are arranged in an up-and-down position. The optical communication lens of claim 1, wherein the lens unit has a diameter of not more than 3 mm, and the thickness of the dimming zone is not more than two-thirds of the thickness of the lens unit. The optical communication lens according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of lens units arranged in an array are formed on the substrate. The optical communication lens of claim 1, wherein the optical axis passes through a geometric center of the first light transmitting region and the second light transmitting region, and is perpendicular to the The surface of the substrate. The optical communication lens according to claim 1, wherein the first surface has a light transmitting portion and a reflecting portion. The optical communication lens according to claim 1, wherein the surface of the lens unit is deflectable, and the surface shape is one of a spherical surface, an aspheric surface, a free curved surface, a flat surface, and a combination of the surface shapes. The optical communication lens according to claim 1, wherein the lens unit is made of one of a polymer material, a glass, and a semiconductor material.