JPH04340508A - Optical fiber array with lens - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the optical fiber array with the lens for an electrooptic converter which is easily manufactured and inexpensive and can connect plural light emitting elements or light receiving elements to optical fibers collectively. CONSTITUTION:This optical fiber array 1 with the lens is equipped with a lens arraying member 2 where plural aligning lenses are arrayed and arranged, a fiber arraying member 3 where plural optical fibers are arrayed at the same pitch as the array pitch of the aligning lenses, and connecting means 4 and 4 which connect the aligning lenses and optical fibers mutually by positioning and assembling both members 2 and 3.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a lensed optical fiber array used in optical communications.

0002

[Background Art] In optical communication in an optical fiber network, the technology for optically connecting a light source such as a light emitting element and an optical fiber serving as a communication medium is based on how efficiently the light output from the light source is inputted into the optical fiber. This is extremely important because it affects the performance of the entire optical communication system, such as the communication distance.

[0003] In such optical fiber networks, since independent optical communication was conventionally carried out in each optical fiber, the optical connection between the light source or light receiving element and the optical fibers was made for each optical fiber. There is. When optically connecting the light source or light-receiving element to the optical fiber, a aligning lens is inserted between the optical fiber and the light source or light-receiving element to reduce connection loss and increase incidence efficiency. As the centering lens, for example, a ball lens, a rod lens, etc. are generally used.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for utilizing information transmission through optical fibers in computer networks. In such computer networks, parallel communication that uses several to dozens of signal lines simultaneously is common, but there is no electrical-to-optical converter (E-O) suitable for parallel communication, and optical communication requires only one Serial communication, which uses real signal lines, had no choice but to convert optical signals into electrical signals.

[0005] In the case of serial communication, the conversion speed of optical signals into electrical signals is slow, which hinders the communication speed of the entire computer network, making it difficult to adapt to high-speed communication. Therefore, it is desired to provide an electrical-to-optical converter for parallel communication that has a plurality of light emitting elements or light receiving elements and a plurality of optical fibers. In order to realize such an electrical-to-optical converter, it is necessary to optically connect a plurality of light emitting elements or light receiving elements to optical fibers. If optical connections were used, there were various problems such as complicated connection work and high manufacturing costs.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and is an easy-to-manufacture and inexpensive electrical cable that can collectively optically connect a plurality of light emitting elements or light receiving elements to optical fibers. An object of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber array with a lens for an optical converter.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the lens-equipped optical fiber array of the present invention provides a lens alignment member in which a plurality of alignment lenses are aligned, and a plurality of optical fibers are aligned with the alignment lenses. By positioning and assembling the optical fiber alignment member arranged at the same alignment pitch as the alignment pitch of the optical fiber alignment member and both of the above-mentioned members, a configuration is provided that includes a connection means for optically connecting each of the alignment lenses and each optical fiber to each other. .

[0008]

[Operation] The lens aligning member and the optical fiber aligning member are positioned and assembled together by the connecting means, and each aligning lens and each optical fiber are optically connected to each other.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 14. Optical fiber array with lens 1
As shown in FIG. 1, a lens alignment member 2 and an optical fiber alignment member 3 are positioned and assembled using positioning pins 4, 4.

The lens alignment member 2 is a plate-shaped member that is long in the width direction as shown in FIG. 2, and as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.
Pin holes 2a, 2a are formed on both sides in the width direction, and a lens insertion hole 2b is formed in the width direction between the pin holes 2a, 2a.
Holes are drilled in several locations at equal intervals. Each pin hole 2a is a positioning hole for positioning the lens alignment member 2 and the optical fiber alignment member 3 with respect to each other when the lenses are assembled. Each lens insertion hole 2b has a ball lens 5 inserted therein as shown in the figure, and is formed to have a small diameter on the front end surface 2c side and a large diameter on the rear end surface 2d side so that the ball lens 5 does not fall off. There is. When the optical fiber array 1 with lenses is optically connected to a light source, a light receiving element, etc. (not shown), the ball lens 5 focuses the light that enters or exits the array 1 and focuses the light at the center of the optical axis. It is a condensing lens that aligns the position.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 7, the optical fiber alignment member 3 has pin holes 3a, 3a on both sides of the front end surface 3 in the width direction.
pin holes 3a,
Between 3a, a plurality of optical fiber fixing holes 3d are formed in the longitudinal direction at a pitch equal to the alignment pitch of the ball lenses 5. Each optical fiber fixing hole 3d is a hole through which each of the plurality of optical fibers 6 is inserted and fixed, and as shown in the figure, the front end surface 3b side has a small diameter, and the rear end surface 3c side corresponds to the diameter of each optical fiber 6. It is formed with a large diameter. Each optical fiber 6 is inserted and fixed into each optical fiber fixing hole 3d by removing the coating on one end side,
One end is exposed on the front end surface 3b, and the other end extends rearward from the rear end surface 3c.

Both members 2 and 3 are manufactured with high precision using a multi-fiber optical connector manufacturing technique, for example, using synthetic resin. As shown in FIG. 7, each positioning pin 4 is fitted into the pin hole 2a, 3a of each member 2, 3, and by positioning and assembling both the members 2, 3, each of the ball lenses 5 and each optical fiber 3d is a connecting means for optically connecting each other.

The lens-equipped optical fiber array 1 of the present invention includes:
It is configured as described above, and has a plurality of light emitting/light receiving elements 1.
The light emitting/light receiving element array 10 is used by butt-connecting the light emitting/light receiving element array 10 as shown in FIGS. 8 to 10. That is, in the light emitting/light receiving element array 10, as shown in the figure, a recess 10a is formed on the front end surface 2c side of the lens alignment member 2, and a plurality of light emitting/light receiving elements 11 are arranged in this recess 10a. Each light emitting/light receiving element 11 is connected to a drive circuit 13 by a lead wire 12. Further, in the light emitting/light receiving element array 10, as shown in FIG. 10, V grooves 10b, 10b are formed on both sides of the recess 10a. Each V-groove 10b is used to insert each positioning pin 4 to position both arrays 1 and 10 when butt-connecting to the lens-attached optical fiber array 1.

Accordingly, when the lens-equipped optical fiber array 1 and the light-emitting/light-receiving element array 10 are butt-connected as shown, each optical fiber 6 is connected to the corresponding light-emitting/light-receiving element 11, respectively. For this reason, for example, the drive circuit 1
When each light-emitting/light-receiving element 11 of the light-emitting/light-receiving element array 1 is driven by the drive signal (electrical signal) transmitted through be done. Each of the emitted optical signals is emitted to the lens alignment member 2 of the lens-equipped optical fiber array 1 which is butt-connected.

Each optical signal incident on the lens alignment member 2 is
The light is centered, that is, focused, by each ball lens 5, emitted to each of the plurality of optical fibers 6 arranged in the optical fiber alignment member 3, and transmitted through each optical fiber 6. On the other hand, contrary to the above, the optical signal transmitted through each optical fiber 6 is condensed by each ball lens 5 of the lens alignment member 2, and is condensed by each light emitting/light receiving element of the light emitting/light receiving element array 10. It is emitted at 11.

Each optical signal incident on each light emitting/light receiving element 11 is converted into an electrical signal and output to the drive circuit 13. In this manner, the lens-equipped optical fiber array 1 of the present invention can be easily butt-connected to the light emitting/light receiving element array 10. In addition, optical fiber array with lens 1
By butt-connecting them to the light-emitting/light-receiving element array 10, they can be used as electrical-to-optical converters for optically connecting a plurality of light-emitting elements and light-receiving elements to optical fibers, respectively.
Since the structure is simple, it can be manufactured at low cost.

In the above embodiment, the case where the optical fiber array 1 with a lens is butt-connected to the light-emitting/light-receiving element array 10 has been described, but it goes without saying that the invention is not limited to this. It is also possible to use it in butt connection with an array or a light receiving element array. Furthermore, although the lens-equipped optical fiber array 1 is positioned by the positioning pins 4, 4 and butt-connected to the light emitting/light receiving element array 10, the intensity of the optical signal in the two outermost optical fibers 6, 6 is It is also possible to position the light emitting/light receiving element array 10 while monitoring the light emitting/light receiving element array 10.

Furthermore, the lens-equipped optical fiber array 1 of the present invention has a rod lens 7 that is a centering lens inserted into the lens insertion hole 2b of the lens alignment member 2, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, for example. Good too. In this case, as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, the lens-equipped optical fiber array 1 includes a lens alignment member 2 with a ball lens 5 as the centering lens to be inserted into the lens insertion hole 2b, and a rod with the centering lens as a ball lens 5. The lens alignment member 2 and the lens 7 may be positioned using positioning pins 4, 4 and assembled together.

[0019]

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above description, according to the optical fiber array with lenses of the present invention, the lens alignment member and the optical fiber alignment member can be positioned and assembled easily by the connecting means. Each alignment lens and each optical fiber are optically connected to each other. Therefore, it is easy to manufacture and can be provided at low cost as an optical fiber array with lenses for electrical-to-optical converters in parallel communication, and it is also possible to optically connect multiple light emitting elements or light receiving elements and optical fibers at once. It has excellent effects.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a lens-equipped optical fiber array of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a lens alignment member constituting the lens-equipped optical fiber array of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view of the lens alignment member shown in FIG. 2 cut in the longitudinal direction.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional plan view of the lens alignment member shown in FIG. 2, cut in the transverse direction.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an optical fiber alignment member constituting the lens-equipped optical fiber array of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional side view of the lens-equipped optical fiber array of FIG. 1 cut in the longitudinal direction.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional plan view of the lens-equipped optical fiber array of FIG. 1 taken in the transverse direction.

8 is a plan view showing a state in which the lens-equipped optical fiber array of FIG. 1 is butt-connected to a light-emitting/light-receiving element array; FIG.

FIG. 9 is a front view of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a side view of FIG. 8 seen from the right side.

FIG. 11 shows a modification of the present invention, and is a cross-sectional side view taken in the longitudinal direction of a lens-equipped optical fiber array using rod lenses as the centering lenses of the lens alignment member.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional plan view of the lens-equipped optical fiber array of FIG. 11 taken in the transverse direction.

FIG. 13 shows another modification of the present invention, in which a lens-equipped optical fiber array is vertically assembled with a lens alignment member using a rod lens as a centering lens and a lens alignment member using a ball lens. FIG.

14 is a cross-sectional side view of the lens-equipped optical fiber array of FIG. 13 taken in the transverse direction.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Optical fiber array with lens 2 Lens alignment member 2a pin hole 3 Optical fiber alignment member 3a pin hole 4 Positioning pin (connection means) 5. Ball lens (centering lens) 6 Optical fiber 7 Rod lens

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A lens alignment member in which a plurality of alignment lenses are aligned, an optical fiber alignment member in which a plurality of optical fibers are arranged at an alignment pitch equal to the alignment pitch of the alignment lenses, and positioning and assembly of both members. An optical fiber array with a lens, characterized in that it includes connection means for optically connecting each of the alignment lenses and each of the optical fibers.