Method and device for precisely controlling axial fiber polishing thickness

Abstract

The present invention is axial fiber grinding and polishing method and device with precise control on grinding and polishing thickness, controlled length and simultaneous treatment of several fibers. The fiber grinding and polishing thickness up to 0.01 micron is realized through regulating the voltage applied on the piezoelectric PZT and altering the position of the ground fiber relative to the datum block. The fiber grinding length is controlled precisely with the precise guide mechanism and locating sensor for axial grinding of fiber longer than 100 mm. One arc discharge polishing process is adopted, in which arc discharge produces high temperature to smelt the surface of the fiber under polishing to eliminate surface roughness, micro cracks and pits causing great loss. The microcrystalline glass is engraved with several V-grooves for several fibers to be set on for simultaneous processing in high work efficiency.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to a method and device for precise control of the axial grinding and polishing thickness of an optical fiber with high precision (0.01 μm), large length (>100mm), and simultaneous processing of multiple optical fibers, belonging to the technical field of optical fiber communication systems, in particular to utilizing optical fiber cladding fields Changes in the technical field of making high-precision optical devices. Background technique [0002] A key process in the manufacturing process of many high-precision optical fiber devices is the grinding of the end face of the optical fiber or the axial direction of the optical fiber. When the optical fiber is polished, because it is a hard and brittle glass material, the material removal mechanism during processing is generally brittle fracture. Measures, a large number of micro-cracks or pits will inevitably be produced during the processing process, resulting in high surface roug...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0002] A key process in the manufacturing process of many high-precision optical fiber devices is the grinding of the end face of the optical fiber or the axial direction of the optical fiber. When the optical fiber is polished, because it is a hard and brittle glass material, the material removal mechanism during processing is generally brittle fracture. Measures, a large number of micro-cracks or pits will inevitably be produced during the processing process, resulting in high surface roughness, which will easily cause scattering and absorption of optical signals, which is extremely unfavorable for improving the optical performance of optical fiber devices

[0003] The current optical fiber polishing technology mainly has the following three problems: First, the limitation of the length of optical fiber polishing

Although the end face grinding of optical fibers and the axial grinding of short-distance optical fibers have made great progress in recent years, the axial grinding of optical fibers with a length greater than 100mm is still a technical difficulty, and there are no related processing reports at home and abroad. , although manual grinding may increase the length of optical fiber grinding, it has high requirements for the technical level of the grinding personnel, and it takes a long time. External factors such as water vapor have a great impact on the performance of the optical fiber after grinding, and it is easy to cause a large device. loss

Second, the detection of the grinding thickness. The thickness gauge currently used is very expensive (the price of foreign products is as high as tens of thousands of dollars), and due to the characteristics of the optical fiber itself (the diameter is only 125 microns), the accuracy of the optical fiber grinding must be controlled within microns. In addition, the optical fiber is circular and transparent, so it is difficult to measure the thickness. It is difficult for the traditional thickness gauge to meet the requirements.

Third, the polishing quality of the optical fiber after polishing, foreign countries use low-power CO 2 The laser light source polishes the end face of the optical fiber. Although the surface quality has been improved, the surface roughness of the end face of the optical fiber after polishing is still as high as 0.1 μm, and the optimum value of insertion loss is as high as 1.45 dB, which cannot meet the requirements of the development of optical fiber communication.

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