Optical waveguides – With optical coupler – Permanently fixed coupler
Patent
1995-05-02
1997-05-06
Ngo, John
Optical waveguides
With optical coupler
Permanently fixed coupler
385 99, 385 96, 385 43, 385 48, G02B 638
Patent
active
056279302
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an arrayed optical fiber coupler in which 2n optical core fibers are melted, coupled and elongated and a method of manufacturing the same.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Generally, a conventional optical fiber coupler has a drawback that it easily changes in characteristics and is damaged due to external force or temperature change, because it has a small outer diameter portion of a few tens of .mu.m. Therefore, the conventional optical fiber coupler is designed such that the coupler for the melted, coupled and elongated optical fibers is fixed to a reinforcement substrate having a linear expansion coefficient as much as quartz, so that the characteristics are stable.
As the reinforcement substrate, a plate member is used as described in Japanese Utility Model Application Laying-open No. 23408/1989 and a pipe member is used as described in Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 63907/1989, for example.
On the other hand, thermosetting adhesive or ultraviolet cure adhesive of epoxy, urethane acrylate, and cyanoacrylate is used as the adhesive for adhering the conventional coupler.
Recently, a high density optical communication line has developed so that the number of optical couplers increases. Therefore, since the conventional optical fiber coupler is designed to couple a pair of optical fibers to each other, there are caused problems that an occupied area by the optical fiber coupler increases and accommodation of excess portions at the ends of the optical fibers is complex.
On the contrary, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 295211/1990, for instance, the reinforcing method of the optical fiber coupler is proposed in which after an optical fiber coupler for coupling two optical fibers is fixed to a reinforcement member so that a plurality of reinforcement members are accommodated in a package, the optical fibers are coupled outside of the package by a tape to construct an arrayed optical fiber coupler. Another method of reinforcing an optical fiber coupler is proposed in which optical fiber couplers for each coupling two optical fibers to each other are arranged on a fixing member having a plurality of grooves in a comb manner, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 254406/1988.
The methods disclosed in the above Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 295211/1990 and Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 254406/1988 are complicated and have a problem that it takes a long time to form an arrayed optical fiber coupler because the optical fiber couplers for each coupling two optical fibers are mounted in a high density manner.
For this reason, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 120510/1990, the method is tried in which an arrayed optical fiber coupler is directly constituted from arrayed optical fiber ribbons. In a case that the arrayed optical fiber coupler is fixed to a reinforcement substrate, however, there is a problem that the transmission characteristics are remarkably degraded due to temperature change or humidity change.
FIGS. 10A, 10B and 10C show a reinforcement structure in a conventional arrayed optical fiber coupler. FIG. 10A is a plan view of the reinforcement structure, FIG. 10B is a perspective view of a reinforcement case used in the reinforcement structure shown in FIG. 10A, and FIG. 10C is a cross sectional view of an arrayed optical fiber ribbon used in the reinforcement structure shown in FIG. 10A. A reference numeral 1 denotes an arrayed optical fiber ribbon in FIG. 10C. This arrayed optical fiber ribbon 1 is constituted by collectively coating four optical fibers 2 each having a protection coating layer 2a with a coating layer 1a. A reference numeral 3 denotes a reinforcement case in FIGS. 10A and 10B. 0n the upper surface 3a of the reinforcement case 3, a pair of fixed walls 3b extending along a longitudinal direction of the case in parallel to each other at both side edges are provided to prevent the displacement of the optical fiber ribbon
REFERENCES:
patent: 4778242 (1988-10-01), Ota et al.
patent: 4812010 (1989-03-01), Osaka et al.
patent: 4990208 (1991-02-01), Kano
patent: 5367591 (1994-11-01), Seike et al.
patent: 5430821 (1995-07-01), Sasoka et al.
Patent Abstracts of Japan, vol. 5, No. 120 (C-065) Aug. 4, 1981 & JP-A-56 057 803 (SOMAR).
Hattori Tomoyuki
Ishiguro Yoichi
Kobayashi Yuji
Sasaoka Eisuke
Semura Shigeru
Ngo John
Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd.
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