Tunable vector mode coupler with variable splitting ratio

Abstract

The invention provides a tunable vector mode coupler with a variable splitting ratio and a manufacturing method, and belongs to the technical field of optical fiber couplers. A base is provided with two optical fiber fixing seats for fixing two polished optical fibers respectively; a mounting groove is formed in the base, and one fiber fixing seat is arranged at the bottom in the mounting groove; and the other optical fiber fixing seat can slide relative to the optical fiber fixing seat positioned at the bottom of the mounting groove in the mounting groove, so that the distance between the polishing surfaces of the two polishing optical fibers can be adjusted, and the splitting ratio can be adjusted. According to the invention, the distance between the two polishing optical fibers can be adjusted so as to achieve the purpose of adjusting the splitting ratio; the piezoelectric ceramic is used for finely adjusting the distance after the proper distance between the optical fibers is determined so as to achieve the purpose of finely adjusting the splitting ratio of the optical fiber coupler.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of optical fiber couplers, and in particular to a tunable vector mode coupler with a variable light splitting ratio based on a side-polished optical fiber. Background Art

[0002] As an important optical passive device in optical communication systems, the manufacturing technology of optical fiber couplers has been relatively mature. Commonly used ones include polished couplers, corroded couplers, and slightly bent couplers. Most of them are fixed splitting ratio couplers.

[0003] Yu Jinbo and others from Jinan University designed a side-melting fiber coupler based on side-polished fiber and tested the coupler. They experimentally confirmed that the coupling ratio of this device can be between 0-90%, and the additional loss of this device is less than 0.5dB. The production process of this method is mainly divided into three steps: side-polished fiber production, side-polished fiber polishing surface alignment and side-melting bonding. Finally, a small amount of nano-quartz powder is applied to the bonding point of the two side-polished fibers, and the light source is input from one end of the fiber, and the power changes of the straight-through end and the coupling end of the coupler are monitored. At the same time, the flame is controlled by software to move in the bonding area, and the change of the coupling ratio is observed. The flame can be extinguished after the predetermined value is achieved. The splitting ratio of the fiber coupler produced by this method is related to the burning time of the melting zone. It can be used to make special fiber couplers with a fixed coupling ratio, but it cannot achieve the function of adjustable coupling ratio of the fiber coupler.

[0004] H Kim et al. proposed a tunable photonic crystal fiber coupler, which is made of side-polished fiber. By removing a portion of the cladding region of each photonic crystal fiber, the cores of the two photonic crystal fibers can be brought close enough to achieve evanescent field coupling through the side of the photonic crystal fiber. By adjusting the mating angle between the two paired halves embedded after side polishing, the coupling ratio was successfully adjusted to 90%. In the wide spectral range of 1250-1650nm, the spectrum of the coupling ratio is almost flat with small ripples. The flat coupling ratio over a wide wavelength region is related to the infinite single-mode characteristics inside the photonic crystal fiber.

[0005] In summary, special fiber tunable couplers can be made based on the advantage that the polishing method does not change the internal structure of special optical fibers, but most of the existing technologies for making fiber couplers using the polishing method cannot achieve adjustable splitting ratios. In the direction of tunable fiber couplers, the current research on special fiber couplers at home and abroad is mainly focused on photonic crystal fibers, and there is little research on other special fiber tunable couplers. Summary of the invention

[0006] The object of the present invention is to provide a tunable vector mode coupler with a variable splitting ratio based on a side-polished optical fiber, so as to solve at least one technical problem existing in the above-mentioned background technology.

[0007] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0008] The present invention provides a tunable vector mode coupler with a variable splitting ratio, comprising:

[0009] A base; the base is provided with two optical fiber fixing seats for fixing two polished optical fibers respectively; the base is provided with a mounting groove, one of the optical fiber fixing seats is arranged at the bottom of the mounting groove; the other optical fiber fixing seat can slide relatively in the mounting groove relative to the optical fiber fixing seat located at the bottom of the mounting groove, so as to achieve the adjustable distance between the polishing surfaces of the two polished optical fibers and the adjustable splitting ratio.

[0010] Furthermore, the base is provided with a sliding block which can slide relative to the installation groove, and the optical fiber fixing seat which can slide in the installation groove is arranged on the sliding block.

[0011] Furthermore, a slide groove is provided on the base, and the sliding block is slidably arranged in the slide groove.

[0012] Furthermore, guide posts are provided on both sides of the bottom of the slide groove, and the sliding block is slidably mounted on the guide posts.

[0013] Furthermore, an elastic member is sleeved on the guide column, and the elastic member is located between the sliding block and the bottom of the sliding groove.

[0014] Furthermore, a cover plate is detachably provided on the top of the slide slot, an adjusting knob is movably provided on the cover plate, and piezoelectric ceramics are connected between the adjusting knob and the slider.

[0015] Furthermore, a threaded through hole is provided in the middle of the cover plate, and an external thread matching the internal thread of the threaded through hole is provided on the adjusting knob.

[0016] Furthermore, corresponding threaded blind holes are provided on the tops of the cover plate and the slide slot, and bolts are used to realize a detachable connection between the cover plate and the slide slot.

[0017] Furthermore, the elastic member is a spring.

[0018] The invention has the beneficial effects that the spacing between two polished optical fibers can be adjusted to achieve the purpose of adjusting the splitting ratio; the piezoelectric ceramic is used to fine-tune the spacing after determining the appropriate optical fiber spacing to achieve the purpose of fine-tuning the splitting ratio of the optical fiber coupler.

[0019] Additional aspects and advantages of the present invention will be given in part in the following description, which will become obvious from the following description, or may be learned through practice of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the accompanying drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the accompanying drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other accompanying drawings can be obtained based on these accompanying drawings without paying creative work.

[0021] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the relative installation of the polishing surfaces of two polished optical fibers according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 2 This is a cross-sectional view of the structure of a tunable vector mode coupler with a variable splitting ratio according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 3 This is a three-dimensional structural exploded view of a tunable vector mode coupler with a variable splitting ratio according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0024] Figure 4 This is a main structural exploded view of the tunable vector mode coupler with variable splitting ratio described in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 5 It is a side structural exploded view of a tunable vector mode coupler with variable splitting ratio according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] Figure 6 for Figure 5 Cross-section view along AA axis.

[0027] Among them: 1-base; 2-optical fiber fixing seat; 3-mounting slot; 4-slider; 5-slide slot; 6-guide column; 7-elastic member; 8-cover plate; 9-adjusting knob; 10-piezoelectric ceramic; 11-bolt; 12-bottom plate; 13-side wall; 14-limiting slot; 15-limiting block; 16-mounting hole; 17-boss; 18-threaded hole; 19-main body fixing block; 20-mounting column; 21-plug-in slot; 22-plug-in hole. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] The embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below, and examples of the embodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein the same or similar reference numerals throughout represent the same or similar elements or elements with the same or similar functions. The embodiments described below by the accompanying drawings are exemplary and are only used to explain the present invention, and cannot be interpreted as limiting the present invention.

[0029] It should be understood by those skilled in the art that unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which this invention belongs.

[0030] It should also be understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be understood to have a meaning consistent with that in the context of the prior art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless as defined herein.

[0031] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, unless otherwise stated, the singular forms "a", "an", "said" and "the" used herein may also include plural forms. It should be further understood that the term "comprising" used in the specification of the present invention refers to the presence of the features, integers, steps, operations, elements and / or components, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements and / or groups thereof.

[0032] In the description of this specification, the description with reference to the terms "one embodiment", "some embodiments", "example", "specific example", or "some examples" means that the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present invention. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described may be combined in any one or more embodiments or examples in a suitable manner. In addition, those skilled in the art may combine and combine different embodiments or examples described in this specification and the features of different embodiments or examples, unless they are contradictory.

[0033] In the description of this specification, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Therefore, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the features. In the description of the present invention, the meaning of "plurality" is two or more, unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.

[0034] In the description of this specification, the terms "center", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", etc. indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings. They are only for the convenience of describing the present technology and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the referred device or element must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be understood as a limitation on the present technology.

[0035] Unless otherwise clearly specified or limited, the terms "installed", "connected", "connected", and "set" should be understood in a broad sense, for example, they can be fixedly connected or set, or detachably connected or set, or integrally connected or set. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in this technology can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0036] To facilitate understanding of the present invention, the present invention is further explained below with reference to specific embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and the specific embodiments do not constitute a limitation on the embodiments of the present invention.

[0037] Those skilled in the art should understand that the drawings are merely schematic diagrams of embodiments, and the components in the drawings are not necessarily necessary for implementing the present invention.

[0038] like Figures 1 to 6 As shown, in this embodiment, a tunable vector mode coupler with a variable splitting ratio is provided, comprising: a base 1; two optical fiber fixing seats 2 for fixing two polished optical fibers respectively are provided on the base 1; a mounting groove 3 is provided on the base 1, one of the optical fiber fixing seats 2 is arranged at the bottom of the mounting groove 3; the other optical fiber fixing seat 2 can slide relatively in the mounting groove 3 relative to the optical fiber fixing seat 2 located at the bottom of the mounting groove 3, so as to achieve the adjustable distance between the polished surfaces of the two polished optical fibers and the adjustable splitting ratio.

[0039] In a specific embodiment, the base 1 is provided with a slider 4 that can slide relative to the mounting groove 3, and the optical fiber fixing seat 2 that can slide in the mounting groove 3 is arranged on the slider 4. The base 1 is provided with a slide groove 5, and the slider 4 is slidably arranged in the slide groove 5. Specifically, the base 1 includes a bottom plate 12, and the two sides of the bottom plate 12 are two raised side walls 13. The mounting groove 3 is located in the middle of the bottom plate 12. The slide groove 5 for the slider 4 to slide is between the two side walls 13. The two side walls are provided with a limiting groove 14. The two sides of the slider are provided with a limiting block 15 corresponding to the limiting groove 14. The limiting block 15 slides in the limiting groove 14 to ensure the stability of the slider 4 moving in the slide groove 5.

[0040] Specifically, guide posts 6 are provided on both sides of the bottom of the chute 5, and the slider 4 is slidably provided on the guide posts 6. An elastic member 7 is sleeved on the guide posts 6, and the elastic member 7 is located between the slider 4 and the bottom of the chute 5.

[0041] The top of the slide 5 is detachably provided with a cover plate 8, and an adjusting knob 9 is movably provided on the cover plate 8. A piezoelectric ceramic 10 is connected between the adjusting knob 9 and the slider 4. A threaded through hole is provided in the middle of the cover plate 8, and an external thread matching the internal thread of the threaded through hole is provided on the adjusting knob 9. Corresponding threaded blind holes are provided on the top of the cover plate 8 and the slide 5, and a bolt 11 is used to realize the detachable connection between the cover plate 8 and the slide 5.

[0042] On the bottom plate 12 , mounting holes 16 for mounting the guide column 6 are provided on both sides of the mounting groove 3 , and bosses 17 for placing the cover plate 8 are provided on the tops of the two side walls 13 , and threaded holes 18 for matching the bolts 11 are provided on the surfaces of the bosses 17 .

[0043] In a specific embodiment, the elastic member 7 is a spring.

[0044] In a specific embodiment, the optical fiber fixing seat includes a main body fixing block 19, one side of the main body fixing block is provided with a groove, and the other opposite side is provided with a mounting column 20. The optical fiber is located in the top groove of the optical fiber fixing seat and fixed with glue. Correspondingly, a plug-in hole 22 for plugging in the mounting column 20 is provided in the bottom of the mounting groove 3 and the plug-in groove 21 in the middle of the slider 4.

[0045] In this embodiment, when manufacturing the optical fiber coupler, firstly, two optical fibers are taken and side-polished by using an optical fiber side-polishing system to prepare for manufacturing the optical fiber coupler.

[0046] After the side-polished optical fiber is manufactured, two polished optical fibers need to be spliced ​​in parallel to form an optical fiber coupler. The principle of the tunable optical fiber coupler designed in this embodiment is as follows: Figure 1 As shown in the figure, P0 represents the input port of optical power, P1 represents the through port at the output end of the fiber coupler, and P2 represents the coupled port at the output end of the fiber coupler. The elliptical area marked with dotted lines is the polishing area of ​​the two optical fibers, and d represents the distance between the two optical fibers. By changing the size of d, the splitting ratio of the output port of the fiber coupler can be adjusted.

[0047] Depend on Figure 2 , 3It can be obtained that the two fiber fixing seats of the tunable fiber coupler are distributed up and down, the lower fiber fixing seat is fixed on the base of the device, and the upper fiber fixing seat is fixed on the slider. Four guide posts are fixed on the base, and there are elastic parts (rebound springs) on the slider guide posts. There are four holes on the slider corresponding to the slider guide posts, so that the slider can slide on the slider guide posts. Above the slider is the piezoelectric ceramic, and above the piezoelectric ceramic is the cover plate, which is fixed to the base with four screws. There is a coarse adjustment knob in the center of the cover plate. When making a tunable fiber coupler, first fix the two measuring and polishing optical fibers on the two fiber fixing seats distributed up and down, and align the polishing areas of the two optical fibers. As shown in the figure below: Figure 1 As shown in . By adjusting the coarse adjustment knob (adjustment knob 9), the slider can be moved up and down on the slider guide column, and the optical fiber holder fixed on the slider will also move up and down, thereby adjusting the spacing between the two test and polished optical fibers to achieve the purpose of adjusting the splitting ratio to make a tunable optical fiber coupler. Piezoelectric ceramics are used for fine adjustment. After the appropriate optical fiber spacing is determined through coarse adjustment, the spacing can be fine-tuned through piezoelectric ceramics to achieve the purpose of fine-tuning the splitting ratio of the optical fiber coupler.

[0048] Although the above describes the specific implementation mode of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, it is not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present invention. Those skilled in the art should understand that various modifications or variations that can be made by those skilled in the art without creative labor on the basis of the technical solution disclosed in the present invention should be included in the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A tunable vector mode coupler with variable splitting ratio, It is characterized in that include: A base (1); the base (1) is provided with two optical fiber fixing seats (2) for fixing two polished optical fibers respectively; the base (1) is provided with a mounting groove (3), wherein one of the optical fiber fixing seats (2) is arranged at the bottom of the mounting groove (3); the other optical fiber fixing seat (2) can slide relatively in the mounting groove (3) relative to the optical fiber fixing seat (2) located at the bottom of the mounting groove (3), thereby achieving the adjustable distance between the polished surfaces of the two polished optical fibers and the adjustable splitting ratio.

2. The tunable vector mode coupler with variable splitting ratio according to claim 1, It is characterized in that The base (1) is provided with a sliding block (4) which can slide relative to the installation groove (3), and the optical fiber fixing seat (2) which can slide in the installation groove (3) is arranged on the sliding block (4).

3. The tunable vector mode coupler with variable splitting ratio according to claim 2, It is characterized in that The base (1) is provided with a slide groove (5), and the slider (4) is slidably arranged in the slide groove (5).

4. The tunable vector mode coupler with variable splitting ratio according to claim 3, It is characterized in that Guide columns (6) are provided on both sides of the bottom of the slide groove (5), and the sliding block (4) is slidably arranged on the guide columns (6).

5. The tunable vector mode coupler with variable splitting ratio according to claim 4, It is characterized in that An elastic member (7) is sleeved on the guide column (6), and the elastic member (7) is located between the slider (4) and the bottom of the slide groove (5).

6. The tunable vector mode coupler with variable splitting ratio according to claim 5, It is characterized in that A cover plate (8) is detachably provided on the top of the slide groove (5), an adjusting knob (9) is movably provided on the cover plate (8), and a piezoelectric ceramic (10) is connected between the adjusting knob (9) and the slider (4).

7. The tunable vector mode coupler with variable splitting ratio according to claim 6, It is characterized in that A threaded through hole is provided in the middle of the cover plate (8), and an external thread matching the internal thread of the threaded through hole is provided on the adjusting knob (9).

8. The tunable vector mode coupler with variable splitting ratio according to claim 6, It is characterized in that The tops of the cover plate (8) and the slide groove (5) are provided with corresponding threaded blind holes, and the cover plate (8) and the slide groove (5) are connected in a detachable manner by means of matching bolts (11).

9. The tunable vector mode coupler with variable splitting ratio according to claim 5, It is characterized in that The elastic member (7) is a spring.

10. The tunable vector mode coupler with variable splitting ratio according to any one of claims 1 to 8, It is characterized in that A groove for placing the optical fiber is provided on the top of the optical fiber fixing seat.

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