Optical fiber connector and optical splitter

Abstract

An optical fiber connector and an optical splitter belong to the technical field of optical communication. The optical fiber connector comprises a shell and a plurality of optical fibers arranged in parallel. The shell wraps the optical fibers, and the end faces of the two ends of each optical fiber are exposed out of the shell. The part, wrapped by the shell, of at least one optical fiber in the multiple optical fibers is provided with a grating, and when the at least one optical fiber comprises at least two optical fibers, the gratings on the at least two optical fibers are different from each other. The grating on at least one optical fiber is arranged in the part, wrapped by the optical fiber connector, of the optical fiber, and when the optical fiber connector is prepared, the processes of stripping the optical fiber and packaging the connector through the shell need to be executed, so that the operation of arranging the grating on the optical fiber can be completed in the process of preparing the optical fiber connector. Therefore, the problem of low efficiency caused by grating preparation and grating packaging in procedures except for optical fiber connector preparation is avoided.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of optical communication technology, and in particular to an optical fiber connector and an optical splitter. Background Art

[0002] Optical communication technology relies on optical fiber to transmit optical signals for communication. However, optical fiber itself is fragile. When the optical fiber is damaged, it cannot effectively transmit optical signals, which has a certain impact on optical communication. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the optical fiber port to determine the degraded optical fiber.

[0003] In the related art, gratings are respectively set on multiple optical fibers, and the wavelengths of the optical signals reflected by the gratings on different optical fibers are different. When identifying multiple optical fiber ports, an optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) with adjustable wavelength can be used to transmit optical signals of multiple wavelengths to the optical fiber, and then receive the optical signals reflected by the gratings on the optical fiber received from each port, and then identify the port of the optical fiber according to the wavelength of the optical signal. When a certain optical fiber is damaged, the optical signal emitted by the OTDR cannot be transmitted to the grating on the optical fiber, so the OTDR cannot receive the optical signal reflected by the grating. Therefore, it can be determined that the optical fiber is damaged and the port fault of the optical fiber is determined, thereby completing the detection of optical fiber damage.

[0004] However, the efficiency of setting the grating in the related art is low. Summary of the invention

[0005] The present application provides an optical fiber connector and an optical splitter, which can solve the problem of low efficiency of setting a grating in the related art. The technical solution is as follows:

[0006] In a first aspect, the present application provides an optical fiber connector, which includes: a housing and a plurality of optical fibers arranged in parallel. The housing encloses the plurality of optical fibers, and the end faces of both ends of the optical fibers are exposed outside the housing. A portion of at least one of the plurality of optical fibers enclosed by the housing has a grating, and when the at least one optical fiber includes at least two optical fibers, the gratings on the at least two optical fibers are different from each other.

[0007] According to the above content, the present application sets the grating on at least one optical fiber in the portion of the optical fiber that is wrapped by the optical fiber connector. When preparing the optical fiber connector, it is necessary to perform the process of stripping the fiber and encapsulating the connector with a shell. Therefore, the preparation of the grating and the encapsulation and protection of the optical fiber grating can be realized simultaneously in the process of preparing the optical fiber connector, thereby avoiding the problem of low efficiency caused by stripping the fiber and encapsulating the grating in the process other than preparing the optical fiber connector. Moreover, in the case where at least one optical fiber includes the above-mentioned multiple optical fibers, there is no need to set the grating in the portion outside the optical fiber connector, and there is no need to set a packaging box on the fiber ribbon to protect the optical fiber grating, thereby avoiding the influence of the grating packaging box on the efficiency of optical fiber connector preparation. In addition, the degree of automation in preparing the optical fiber connector is usually higher than the degree of automation in preparing and encapsulating the grating on the fiber ribbon, thereby reducing manual dependence. It can be seen that the optical fiber connector provided in the present application has similar functions as the optical fiber connector and the fiber ribbon with grating in the related art, but the preparation efficiency of the optical fiber connector of the present application is higher than the preparation efficiency of the optical fiber connector and the fiber ribbon with grating in the related art, and the preparation cost of the optical fiber connector of the present application is lower than the preparation cost of the optical fiber connector and the fiber ribbon with grating in the related art.

[0008] The housing can be implemented in a variety of ways. For example, the housing includes: a first structure and a second structure arranged opposite to each other. In this case, the plurality of optical fibers are located between the first structure and the second structure. When preparing the optical fiber connector, the plurality of optical fibers can be arranged on the first structure first, and then the second structure can be covered on the side of the plurality of optical fibers away from the first structure.

[0009] At least one of the first structure and the second structure has a plurality of limit grooves corresponding to the plurality of optical fibers on its surface close to the plurality of optical fibers, and the optical fibers are located in the corresponding limit grooves. The limit grooves can limit the corresponding optical fibers to a fixed position in the housing to prevent the optical fibers from sliding in the housing. After the second structure is covered on the side of the plurality of optical fibers away from the first structure, glue is injected from the gap between the first structure and the second structure to the gap between the first structure and the second structure. The glue can flow from both ends to the middle area along the limit grooves, and then fill the gap between the first structure and the second structure under the action of the siphon effect. After curing, the glue can fix the first structure, the second structure and the plurality of optical fibers together. The plurality of optical fibers can be obtained by stripping off the coating of at least part of the fiber ribbon segment in the fiber ribbon and engraving the grating on the exposed optical fiber.

[0010] Optionally, when the shell includes the above-mentioned first structure and second structure, and at least one of the first structure and the second structure has the above-mentioned multiple limit grooves, the shell may have a cavity corresponding to each of the m optical fibers among the multiple optical fibers, m≥1, and for the cavity and the limit groove corresponding to one optical fiber among the m optical fibers: the cavity is connected to the limit groove, the optical fiber passes through the cavity, and in the radial direction of the optical fiber, the size of the cavity is larger than the size of the limit groove.

[0011] When m is greater than 1, the cavities corresponding to different optical fibers in the m optical fibers may be the same or different. For example, the m optical fibers correspond to the same cavity, which is not limited in the present application.

[0012] According to the foregoing, when the shell includes a first structure and a second structure, when preparing the optical fiber connector, the glue flows into the space between the first structure and the second structure along the limit groove by means of a siphon effect, thereby filling the space between the first structure and the second structure. When the glue flows into the cavity, the glue will leak into the cavity, thereby blocking the flow caused by the siphon effect. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the amount of glue covering the grating in the optical fiber corresponding to the cavity, reduce the contact area between the glue and the grating, reduce the degree of influence of the glue on the performance of the grating, and improve the wavelength consistency of the grating (when the grating is affected by external factors and the reflected wavelength drifts, the consistency of the wavelength drift of the reflected light from different gratings) and stability.

[0013] The at least one cavity in the housing may be realized in a variety of ways.

[0014] By way of example, in one implementable manner, the m optical fibers in any one of the optical fiber connectors provided in the present application include: a first optical fiber, a portion of the first optical fiber wrapped by the shell having a first grating, and at least a portion of the first grating being connected to a first cavity corresponding to the first optical fiber.

[0015] As another example, in another possible implementation, the m optical fibers in any optical fiber connector provided by the present application include: a second optical fiber, a portion of the second optical fiber wrapped by the housing has a second grating, and the second grating is isolated from a second cavity corresponding to the second optical fiber. The second cavity may be located between the second grating and an edge of the second structure (or the first structure).

[0016] As another example, in another possible implementation, the m optical fibers in any optical fiber connector provided by the present application include both the first optical fiber and the second optical fiber. Some optical fibers may also be both the first optical fiber and the second optical fiber. The first optical fiber has the first grating, the second optical fiber has the second grating, the first optical fiber corresponds to the first cavity, and the second optical fiber corresponds to the second cavity.

[0017] It is understandable that no matter what possible implementation method is used to implement the cavity, the present application does not limit the shape of the cavity. The shape of the cavity can be strip, ring, cube, sphere, irregular shape, etc. In an optional implementation, the cavity corresponding to the m optical fibers includes: at least one of a ring cavity and a strip cavity.

[0018] Optionally, in the case where the housing includes a first structure and a second structure that are arranged opposite to each other, at least one of the first structure and the second structure in any optical fiber connector provided in the present application has a groove on the surface close to the multiple optical fibers for forming the above-mentioned cavity (such as the first cavity and / or the second cavity). In other words, the cavity in the housing can be composed of the grooves in the at least one structure. For example, each cavity can be formed by connecting the grooves in the first structure and the grooves in the second structure; each cavity can also be composed of the grooves in the first structure or the grooves in the second structure; or a part of the cavity can be composed of the grooves in the first structure and the grooves in the second structure, and another part of the cavity can be composed of the grooves in the first structure or the grooves in the second structure.

[0019] When at least one cavity includes: a cavity formed by connecting a first empty slot in a first structure and a second empty slot in a second structure, the orthographic projection of the first empty slot on a reference plane coincides with the orthographic projection of the second empty slot on a reference plane, and the reference plane is perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the first structure and the second structure. Of course, the orthographic projection of the first empty slot on the reference plane and the orthographic projection of the second empty slot on the reference plane may not completely coincide with each other, but may coincide with each other partially, and this application does not limit this. When the orthographic projection of the first empty slot on the reference plane and the orthographic projection of the second empty slot on the reference plane at least partially coincide with each other, at least a portion of the optical fiber in the optical fiber connector is in a suspended state, and at this time at least a portion of the grating may or may not be in a suspended state.

[0020] Furthermore, in any optical fiber connector provided in the present application, the end faces at both ends of the optical fiber may include: at least one of a first type of end face and a second type of end face, wherein the first type of end face protrudes from the surface of the housing, and the second type of end face is flush with the surface of the housing.

[0021] When the end faces at both ends of the optical fiber are the second type of end faces, when manufacturing the optical fiber connector, after the optical fiber is placed inside the shell, the part of the optical fiber protruding from the shell can be removed, and then the two ends of the optical fiber can be polished. Alternatively, the unnecessary part of the optical fiber can be removed first (and the two ends of the remaining part of the optical fiber can be polished), and then the optical fiber can be placed inside the shell. In addition, when the end faces at both ends of the optical fiber are the second type of end faces, the structure of the optical fiber connector is more compact, which is convenient for mass production; and the optical fiber is completely wrapped in the shell, so the optical fiber is less likely to break, and the reliability of the optical fiber is greatly improved, which is conducive to the reuse of the optical fiber connector. Furthermore, when the end faces at both ends of the optical fiber are the second type of end faces, both end faces of the optical fiber can be easily connected to external devices. Therefore, the optical fiber connector can be used to cascade multiple external devices, so that the optical fiber connector has better functional expandability.

[0022] Optionally, when the end faces at both ends of the optical fiber include a first type of end face (such as the end faces at both ends include one first type of end face or two first type of end faces), on the side where the first type of end face of the optical fiber is located, the first structure may protrude from the second structure, or the second structure may protrude from the first structure.

[0023] Furthermore, any fiber optic connector provided by the present application may also include: an optical waveguide. The optical waveguide is located in one of the first structure and the second structure, close to the surface of the multiple optical fibers; the optical waveguide has a first port and multiple second ports, the first port is connected to the multiple second ports, and the multiple second ports are coupled and connected to the multiple optical fibers in a one-to-one correspondence. The optical waveguide plays the role of an optical splitter, which can split the light input from the first port into multiple paths of light, and transmit them from the multiple second ports to the multiple optical fibers respectively. It can be seen that the fiber optic connector provided by the present application also has the function of an optical splitter.

[0024] In addition, some of the multiple second ports may be connected to the optical fibers in a one-to-one correspondence, while other second ports may not be connected to the optical fibers in a corresponding manner. Only some of the multiple optical fibers may be connected to the second ports in a one-to-one correspondence, while other optical fibers may not be connected to the second ports in a corresponding manner. It can be seen that at least some of the multiple second ports are coupled and connected to at least some of the multiple optical fibers in a one-to-one correspondence.

[0025] When the optical fiber connector includes an optical waveguide, the optical waveguide can be formed on the first structure or the second structure when preparing the optical fiber connector. In addition, the order of forming the optical waveguide and arranging the plurality of optical fibers on the first structure or the second structure is not limited.

[0026] In the present application, when multiple optical fibers are connected to an optical waveguide, a grating is provided on the optical fiber, but not on the optical waveguide. The cross section of the optical fiber perpendicular to the extension direction (which may be circular) has the same size in all directions, so the optical fiber has polarization independence. However, the cross section of the optical waveguide perpendicular to the extension direction is not the same size in all directions, so the optical waveguide has polarization dependence but not polarization independence. If the grating is provided on the optical waveguide, the reflection wavelength of the provided grating will also have polarization dependence, which is not conducive to use in the case of non-single polarization light signals. However, providing the grating on the optical fiber can avoid this polarization dependence and improve the versatility of the optical fiber connector.

[0027] In the second aspect, the present application provides an optical splitter, which includes any optical fiber connector that does not include an optical waveguide in the first aspect, and an optical waveguide device. The optical waveguide device includes: a splitter substrate, and an optical waveguide located on the splitter substrate. The optical waveguide has a first port and multiple second ports, the first port is connected to the multiple second ports, and the multiple second ports are coupled and connected to multiple optical fibers in the optical fiber connector in a one-to-one correspondence. After the optical signal transmitted to the first port is divided into multiple optical signals by the optical waveguide, it is transmitted from the multiple second ports to the multiple optical fibers in the optical fiber connector respectively, and transmitted along the multiple optical fibers. In addition, the grating on the optical fiber can also reflect the optical signal of the corresponding wavelength to identify the optical fiber. In addition, the present application sets a grating on the optical fiber instead of setting a grating on the optical waveguide, which can avoid the polarization correlation of the grating and improve the performance of the optical splitter where the optical fiber connector is located. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the first optical fiber connector provided in this application;

[0029] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a second optical fiber connector provided in this application;

[0030] Figure 3 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a cross section of the optical fiber connector perpendicular to the first structure and passing through an optical fiber;

[0031] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a third optical fiber connector provided in this application;

[0032] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a first cavity provided in the present application;

[0033] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of a second cavity provided in the present application;

[0034] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of a first cavity and a second cavity provided in the present application;

[0035] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of an optical waveguide provided in the present application;

[0036] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of an optical splitter provided in the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] In order to make the principles and technical solutions of the present application clearer, the implementation methods of the present application will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0038] Optical communication technology relies on optical fiber to transmit optical signals for communication. However, optical fiber itself is fragile. When the optical fiber is damaged, it cannot effectively transmit optical signals, which has a certain impact on optical communication. In addition, as the scale of optical fiber networks expands, maintenance and management work becomes important and complex. The main requirements include understanding the degradation of optical fiber links for prevention, and more importantly, responding to and locating link failures quickly and accurately in order to provide customers with timely and effective after-sales service. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the optical fiber ports to determine the degraded optical fiber.

[0039] In the related art, gratings (such as Bragg gratings) are respectively set on multiple optical fibers in a ribbon fiber (ribbon optical fiber), and the wavelengths of the optical signals reflected by the gratings on different optical fibers are different. When identifying the ports of multiple optical fibers (multiple optical fiber ports), an optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) with adjustable wavelength can be used to transmit optical signals of multiple wavelengths to the optical fiber, and then the optical signal reflected by the grating on the optical fiber is received from each port, and then the port of the optical fiber is identified according to the wavelength of the received optical signal. When a certain optical fiber is damaged, the optical signal emitted by the OTDR cannot be transmitted to the grating on the optical fiber, so the OTDR cannot receive the optical signal reflected by the grating. Therefore, it can be determined that the optical fiber is damaged and the port failure of the optical fiber is determined, thereby completing the detection of optical fiber damage.

[0040] According to the above content, in order to realize the identification of the optical fiber port, a grating needs to be set on the optical fiber. In the related technology, the protective layer and coating layer of the fiber ribbon can be peeled off in turn to expose multiple bare fibers (optical fibers not wrapped and / or coated with other materials) in the fiber ribbon, and the grating is written on the bare fiber. After the grating is written, a coating layer for preliminary protection of the grating is coated on the grating, and after annealing, the grating is packaged in a packaging box to achieve a protective effect against pressure and drop.

[0041] It can be seen that the related technology requires the process of stripping the fiber ribbon (such as stripping the protective layer and coating layer of the fiber ribbon in sequence as mentioned above), photolithography of the grating, coating of the coating layer, annealing, and packaging the grating with a packaging box. However, the degree of automation of this process is low and it is highly dependent on manual labor. In addition, the coating layer coating and annealing processes are performed in different places from the photolithography grating process, making the entire process discontinuous and affecting the completion efficiency of the process; in addition, the annealing takes a long time, which further affects the completion efficiency.

[0042] Furthermore, the ribbon fiber can be connected to a planar lightwave circuit (PLC) device when used. Therefore, usually after completing the above process, it is necessary to process a fiber array (FA) head at one end of the ribbon fiber so that the ribbon fiber can be connected to the planar lightwave circuit (PLC) device through the FA head. However, the ribbon fiber with the above packaging box is inconvenient to coil in the subsequent process of making the FA head, and the operator needs to pay special attention to protection. Therefore, this will reduce the production efficiency of the FA head and increase the production cost of the FA head.

[0043] The present application provides an optical fiber connector, which may be an FA head or may not be an FA head (such as a multi-fiber push-on (MPO) connector). A grating is provided on the optical fiber in the optical fiber connector, thereby avoiding the problem of low efficiency caused by preparing and packaging the grating in a process other than preparing the optical fiber connector.

[0044] For example, Figure 1 As shown, the optical fiber connector 0 provided in the present application includes: a housing 01 and a plurality of optical fibers 02 arranged in parallel. The housing 01 encloses the plurality of optical fibers 02, and the end faces of both ends of the optical fibers 02 are exposed outside the housing 01, so as to facilitate the connection of the plurality of optical fibers 02 with devices outside the optical fiber connector as needed. The optical fiber 02 in the present application may be a bare fiber or may not be a bare fiber, and the present application does not limit this.

[0045] The portion of at least one optical fiber 02 among the multiple optical fibers 02 that is wrapped by the housing 01 has a grating 021. When the at least one optical fiber 02 includes at least two optical fibers 02, the gratings 021 on the at least two optical fibers 02 are different from each other. Since the gratings 021 on different optical fibers 02 are different, the gratings 021 on the optical fibers 02 can play a role in identifying the optical fibers 02. Different gratings 021 can identify different optical fibers 02 where different gratings 021 are located by reflecting light of different wavelengths.

[0046] According to the above content, the present application sets the grating on at least one optical fiber in the part of the optical fiber that is wrapped by the optical fiber connector. When preparing the optical fiber connector, it is necessary to execute the process of stripping the fiber and encapsulating the connector with a shell. Therefore, the preparation of the grating and the encapsulation and protection of the optical fiber grating can be achieved simultaneously in the process of preparing the optical fiber connector, thereby avoiding the problem of low efficiency caused by stripping the fiber and encapsulating the grating in the process other than preparing the optical fiber connector.

[0047] Furthermore, in the case where at least one optical fiber includes the above-mentioned multiple optical fibers, there is no need to set a grating in the portion outside the optical fiber joint, nor is there a need to set a packaging box on the fiber ribbon to protect the optical fiber grating, thereby avoiding the influence of the grating packaging box on the efficiency of preparing the optical fiber joint. In addition, the degree of automation in preparing the optical fiber joint is usually higher than the degree of automation in preparing and packaging the grating on the fiber ribbon, thereby reducing manual dependence. It can be seen that the optical fiber joint provided by the present application has similar functions to the overall composition of the optical fiber joint and the fiber ribbon with grating in the related art, but the preparation efficiency of the optical fiber joint of the present application is higher than the preparation efficiency of the overall composition of the optical fiber joint and the fiber ribbon with grating in the related art, and the preparation cost of the optical fiber joint of the present application is lower than the preparation cost of the overall composition of the optical fiber joint and the fiber ribbon with grating in the related art.

[0048] Figure 1 In the example, the multiple optical fibers 02 include five optical fibers 02 arranged in the same plane, and the portion of each optical fiber 02 wrapped by the housing 01 has a grating 021. It can be understood that the multiple optical fibers 02 may not be arranged in the same plane, and the multiple optical fibers 02 may be arranged in an array or not; the present application does not limit the number of optical fibers 02 ( Figure 1 In the figure, five optical fibers 02 are taken as an example, and the number of optical fibers 02 may not be 5, such as 8, 9, etc.). In the present application, the portion of the optical fibers 02 wrapped by the shell 01 may have the grating 021, and the portion of the grating 02 wrapped by the shell 01 may not have the grating 021, and the present application does not limit this. The entire area or a part of the part of the optical fiber 02 wrapped by the shell 01 may have the grating 021, and the figure takes the part of the area having the grating 021 as an example.

[0049] In addition, the housing 01 may also be implemented in a variety of ways. For example, Figure 1In the example, the shell 01 includes: a first structure 011 and a second structure 012 that are arranged opposite to each other. In this case, the above-mentioned multiple optical fibers 02 are located between the first structure 011 and the second structure 012. In the case where the shell 01 includes the first structure 011 and the second structure 012, when preparing the optical fiber connector 0, the above-mentioned multiple optical fibers 02 can be first arranged on the first structure 011, and then the second structure 012 can be covered on the side of the multiple optical fibers 02 away from the first structure 011. At least one of the first structure 011 and the second structure 012 is a substrate, for example, the first structure 011 and the second structure 012 are both substrates (the first structure 011 is the first substrate, and the second structure 012 is the second substrate); or, the first structure 011 is a substrate, and the second structure 012 is a glue layer, etc.

[0050] The present application does not limit the size relationship between the first structure 011 and the second structure 012 on the surface close to the optical fiber. Figure 1 In the example, the surface area of ​​the first structure 011 close to the optical fiber is larger than the surface area of ​​the second structure 012 close to the optical fiber. Alternatively, the surface area of ​​the first structure 011 close to the optical fiber may be smaller than or equal to the surface area of ​​the second structure 012 close to the optical fiber.

[0051] At least one of the first structure 011 and the second structure 012 has a plurality of limit grooves ( Figure 1 The optical fiber 02 is located in the corresponding limiting groove. The limiting groove can limit the corresponding optical fiber 02 to a fixed position in the housing 01 to prevent the optical fiber 02 from sliding in the housing 01.

[0052] In the case where at least one of the first structure 011 and the second structure 012 has the plurality of limiting grooves, after the second structure 012 is covered on the side of the plurality of optical fibers 02 away from the first structure 011, glue is injected from the gap between the first structure 011 and the second structure 012 to the gap between the first structure 011 and the second structure 012, and the glue can flow from both ends to the middle area along the limiting grooves, and then fill the gap between the first structure 011 and the second structure 012 under the action of the siphon effect, and after curing, the glue can fix the first structure 011, the second structure 012 and the plurality of optical fibers 02 together. The plurality of optical fibers 02 can be obtained by stripping the coating of at least part of the ribbon fiber segment in the ribbon fiber and writing the grating on the exposed optical fiber.

[0053] The above-mentioned limiting groove is a strip groove, and the length direction is parallel to the corresponding optical fiber 02. The cross section of the limiting groove perpendicular to the length direction can be V-shaped, semicircular, rectangular, etc., and the present application does not limit the shape of the cross section. The spacing between the centers of adjacent limiting grooves can be greater than the diameter of the optical fiber 02, for example, the spacing between the centers of adjacent limiting grooves is greater than 125 microns. The depth of the limiting groove can be any depth, for example, the depth can be greater than 62.5 microns.

[0054] It is understandable that the housing 01 may also have Figure 1 Other implementations that are different from the implementations shown. For example, Figure 2 As shown, the housing 01 may not be divided into the first structure 011 and the second structure 012, but may be an integral part. In addition, the housing 01 has a plurality of through holes ( Figure 2 (not marked in the figure), the multiple optical fibers 02 correspond to the multiple through holes one by one, and the optical fibers 02 are inserted into the corresponding through holes.

[0055] Please continue to refer to Figure 1 , the optical fiber connector 0 may also include: a plurality of coating layers 03 corresponding to the plurality of optical fibers 02; the coating layers 03 are located outside the housing 01, and the coating layers 03 are wrapped around one end of the corresponding optical fiber 02. Optionally, the optical fiber connector 0 may also include: a plurality of protective layers (not shown in the drawings) corresponding to the plurality of optical fibers 02, and the protective layers corresponding to the optical fibers 02 are wrapped around the coating layers 03 corresponding to the optical fibers 02. It is understandable that the optical fiber connector 0 may not include the plurality of coating layers 03 and the plurality of protective layers, and this application does not limit this.

[0056] Optionally, refer to Figure 3 , Figure 3 for Figure 1 The schematic diagram of the cross section of the optical fiber connector 0 perpendicular to the first structure 011 and passing through an optical fiber 02 is shown. Figure 3 In the embodiment, the first structure 011 includes: a first part and a second part arranged from one end to the other end of the optical fiber 02. The surface of the first part close to the multiple optical fibers 02 has the above-mentioned multiple limiting grooves, and the surface of the second part close to the multiple optical fibers 02 is recessed in the surface of the first part close to the multiple optical fibers 02. In this way, although one end of the optical fiber 02 is wrapped with the coating layer 03, the end of the optical fiber 02 wrapped with the coating layer 03 can be placed on the surface of the second part close to the optical fiber 02. Since the surface is recessed relative to the surface of the first part close to the optical fiber 02, the optical fiber 02 can be kept in a naturally straightened state, avoiding the bending of the optical fiber 02 (or reducing the bending degree of the optical fiber 02), and reducing the risk of the optical fiber 02 breaking due to bending.

[0057] Optionally, in a direction perpendicular to the first structure 011, the distance between the central axis of the optical fiber 02 and the surface of the first portion away from the optical fiber 02 is the same as the distance between the central axis of the optical fiber 02 and the surface of the second portion away from the optical fiber 02. In this case, the surface of the first structure 011 away from the optical fiber 02 is parallel to the central axis of the optical fiber 02.

[0058] Further, in any optical fiber connector provided in the present application, the end faces at both ends of the optical fiber 02 may include: at least one of the first type of end face and the second type of end face. The first type of end face protrudes from the surface of the housing 01 (e.g. Figure 1 The left end face of the optical fiber 02 in the middle), the second end face is flush with the surface of the housing 01 (such as Figure 1 The right end face of the optical fiber 02). Figure 1 In the example, one of the end faces of the optical fiber 02 at both ends is a first-type end face and the other end face is a second-type end face. It is understandable that the end faces at both ends of the optical fiber 02 can also be both first-type end faces or both second-type end faces. When the end faces at both ends of the optical fiber 02 are both second-type end faces, the optical fiber connector can be as follows: Figure 2 or Figure 4 shown.

[0059] When the end faces of both ends of the optical fiber 02 are the second type end faces, when manufacturing the optical fiber connector, the portion of the optical fiber protruding from the housing 01 can be removed after the optical fiber is placed inside the housing 01, and then the two ends of the optical fiber can be polished. Alternatively, the unnecessary portion of the optical fiber can be removed first (and the two ends of the remaining portion of the optical fiber can be polished), and then the optical fiber can be placed inside the housing 01.

[0060] In addition, when the end faces at both ends of the optical fiber 02 are both the second type of end faces, the structure of the optical fiber connector is relatively compact, which is convenient for mass production; and, since the optical fiber 02 is completely wrapped in the housing 01, the optical fiber 02 is less likely to break, and the reliability of the optical fiber 02 is greatly improved, which is conducive to the reuse of the optical fiber connector. Furthermore, when the end faces at both ends of the optical fiber 02 are both the second type of end faces, the two end faces of the optical fiber 02 are easy to connect with external devices, so the optical fiber connector can be used to cascade multiple external devices, so that the optical fiber connector has better functional scalability.

[0061] Optionally, when the end faces at both ends of the optical fiber 02 include a first type of end face (such as the end faces at both ends include one first type of end face or two first type of end faces), the first structure 011 protrudes from the second structure 012 on the side where the first type of end face of the optical fiber 02 is located. Figure 1In the figure, the left end face of the optical fiber is a first type end face, so the left side of the first structure 011 protrudes from the second structure 012. It can be understood that, on the side where the first type end face of the optical fiber 02 is located, the first structure 011 may not protrude from the second structure 012, for example, on the side where the first type end face is located, the first structure 011 is flush with the second structure 012, or the second structure 012 protrudes from the first structure 011, and this application does not limit this.

[0062] Optionally, when the housing includes the first structure and the second structure, and at least one of the first structure and the second structure has the plurality of limit grooves, the housing may have cavities corresponding to m optical fibers among the plurality of optical fibers ( Figure 1 , not shown). m≥1, when m is greater than 1, the cavities corresponding to different optical fibers in the m optical fibers may be the same or different. For example, the m optical fibers correspond to the same cavity, which is not limited in the present application. The m optical fibers may be all the optical fibers in the optical fiber connector or part of the optical fibers. The m optical fibers may be the same as or different from the at least one optical fiber with a grating mentioned above. When the housing has multiple cavities, the multiple cavities are isolated from each other. For the cavity and the limit groove corresponding to one optical fiber among the m optical fibers: the cavity is connected to the limit groove, the optical fiber passes through the cavity, and in the radial direction of the optical fiber, the size of the cavity is larger than the size of the limit groove.

[0063] According to the foregoing, when the shell includes a first structure and a second structure, when preparing the optical fiber connector, the glue flows into the space between the first structure and the second structure along the limit groove by means of a siphon effect, thereby filling the space between the first structure and the second structure. When the glue flows into the cavity, the glue will leak into the cavity, thereby blocking the flow caused by the siphon effect. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the amount of glue covering the grating in the optical fiber corresponding to the cavity, reduce the contact area between the glue and the grating, reduce the degree of influence of the glue on the performance of the grating, and improve the wavelength consistency of the grating (when the grating is affected by external factors and the reflected wavelength drifts, the consistency of the wavelength drift of the reflected light from different gratings) and stability.

[0064] It is understandable that there may be no cavity inside the shell 01. In this case, the glue can cover the grating, and the glue can fully and evenly contact the grating. This application does not limit this.

[0065] The at least one cavity in the housing 01 may be realized in a variety of ways.

[0066] For example, in one possible implementation, please refer to Figure 5 , the m optical fibers in any optical fiber connector provided in the present application include: a first optical fiber ( Figure 5 The optical fibers in the first optical fiber are all first optical fibers), and the portion of the first optical fiber wrapped by the shell has a first grating (such as Figure 5 The grating 021 in the first grating is connected to the first cavity A corresponding to the first optical fiber. Figure 5 In the example, multiple optical fibers 02 are all first optical fibers, all first optical fibers correspond to a first cavity A, and all regions in the first grating in each first optical fiber are connected to the first cavity A. It can be understood that part of the multiple optical fibers 02 may be first optical fibers, and another part of the optical fibers 02 may not be first optical fibers; and a part of the region in the first grating in each first optical fiber is connected to the first cavity A corresponding to the first optical fiber, and another part of the region is isolated from the first cavity A corresponding to the first optical fiber. There may be one first cavity A or multiple first cavities A in the housing 01, and the first cavities A corresponding to different first optical fibers may be the same or different. Figure 5 In the example, all first optical fibers correspond to one first cavity A, which is not limited in the present application. Figure 5 The first cavity A in the middle shell 01 is in a cubic shape. It is understandable that the first cavity A may also be in other shapes, such as a spherical shape, an irregular shape, etc.

[0067] As another example, in another possible implementation, please refer to Figure 6 , the m optical fibers in any optical fiber connector provided in the present application include: a second optical fiber (such as Figure 6 Each optical fiber 02 shown in FIG. 2 ), the portion of the second optical fiber enclosed by the shell has a second grating (such as Figure 6 Each grating 021 shown in FIG. 1 is isolated from the second cavity B corresponding to the second optical fiber. The second cavity B may be located between the second grating and the edge of the second structure (or the first structure). There may be one second cavity B or multiple second cavities B in the housing 01. Figure 6 The two second cavities B are taken as an example, and this application does not limit this. Figure 6 The second cavity B is a strip-shaped cavity, and the length direction of the strip-shaped cavity is perpendicular to the optical fiber 02. Figure 6 The two second cavities B in the optical fiber 02 may be arranged in parallel on both sides of the grating 021 in the multiple optical fibers 02. It is understandable that the second cavity B may not be a strip-shaped cavity. For example, the second cavity B is an annular cavity, and the annular cavity may surround the second grating (for example, the annular cavity surrounds the grating 021 on the multiple optical fibers 02). When the second cavity B is a strip-shaped cavity, the length direction of the second cavity B may not be perpendicular to the optical fiber 02. The second cavities B corresponding to different second optical fibers may be the same or different. Figure 6 In the example, it is taken that all the second optical fibers correspond to two second cavities B.

[0068] As another example, in another possible implementation, the m optical fibers in any optical fiber connector provided by the present application include a first optical fiber and a second optical fiber. The first optical fiber has the first grating, the second optical fiber has the second grating, the first optical fiber corresponds to the first cavity, and the second optical fiber corresponds to the second cavity. Figure 7 , or some optical fibers may be both first optical fibers and second optical fibers, Figure 7 In the example, all optical fibers 02 are both first optical fibers and second optical fibers, and each optical fiber 02 corresponds to all first cavities A and all second cavities B. Of course, the first cavities A and / or second cavities B corresponding to different optical fibers 02 may also be different. In addition, the number of first cavities A may be one or more, and the number of second cavities B may be one or more. Figure 7 In the example, the number of the first cavity A and the number of the second cavity B are both multiple, but this application does not limit this.

[0069] It is understandable that no matter what kind of implementable method is used to implement the cavity, the present application does not limit the shape of the cavity. The shape of the cavity can be strip, ring, cube, spherical, irregular, etc. In an optional implementation, the cavity corresponding to the m optical fibers includes: at least one of an annular cavity and a strip cavity. Of course, the cavity in the housing 01 may not be an annular cavity or a strip cavity, and the present application does not limit this. The present application also does not limit the size of the cavity. For example, the width of the above-mentioned strip cavity can range from 0.1 mm to 10 mm. In addition, the shape of any cross section of the cavity can be any shape such as a rectangle, a trapezoid, a triangle, etc., and the present application does not limit this. Moreover, in the case where at least one cavity includes multiple cavities, the shapes and / or sizes of different cavities may be the same or different.

[0070] Optionally, when the housing 01 includes a first structure 011 and a second structure 012 that are arranged opposite to each other, at least one of the first structure 011 and the second structure 012 in any optical fiber connector provided in the present application has a hollow groove (not shown in the figure) for forming the above-mentioned cavity (such as the first cavity A and / or the second cavity B). In other words, the cavity in the housing 01 can be composed of the hollow groove in the at least one structure.

[0071] For example, each cavity may be formed by connecting the empty slots in the first structure 011 and the empty slots in the second structure 012; each cavity may be composed of the empty slots in the first structure 011 or the empty slots in the second structure 012; or a part of the cavities may be composed of the empty slots in the first structure 011 and the empty slots in the second structure 012, and another part of the cavities may be composed of the empty slots in the first structure 011 or the empty slots in the second structure 012.

[0072] When at least one cavity includes: a cavity formed by connecting a first empty slot in the first structure 011 and a second empty slot in the second structure 012, the orthographic projection of the first empty slot on the reference plane coincides with the orthographic projection of the second empty slot on the reference plane, and the reference plane is perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the first structure 011 and the second structure 012. Of course, the orthographic projection of the first empty slot on the reference plane and the orthographic projection of the second empty slot on the reference plane may not completely coincide with each other, but may coincide with each other partially, and this application does not limit this. When the orthographic projection of the first empty slot on the reference plane and the orthographic projection of the second empty slot on the reference plane at least partially coincide with each other, at least a part of the area in the optical fiber is in a suspended state.

[0073] Optionally, for any one of the first structure 011 and the second structure 012, when the structure has both a limiting groove and an empty groove, the depth of the limiting groove and the depth of the empty groove may be the same or different. For example, the depth of the limiting groove is less than, greater than, or equal to the depth of the empty groove. When both the first structure 011 and the second structure 012 have empty grooves, the depth of the empty groove on the first structure 011 and the depth of the empty groove on the second structure 012 may be the same or different. Furthermore, for any one of the structures, the structure may have one or more empty grooves, and the shapes and sizes of different empty grooves may be the same or different.

[0074] In addition, the cavity in the shell 01 may or may not be connected to the outside of the shell 01, and this application does not limit this. The drawings all take the case where the cavity is not connected to the outside of the shell 01 as an example. For example, when the cavity is connected to the outside of the shell 01, the cavity may be connected to at least one side of the shell 01 in a first direction, and the first direction is perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the first structure 011 and the second structure 012, and perpendicular to the length direction of the optical fiber 02.

[0075] Furthermore, if Figure 8 As shown, any optical fiber connector provided in the present application may further include: an optical waveguide 04. The optical waveguide 04 is located in a structure ( Figure 8 The optical waveguide 04 has a first port 041 and a plurality of second ports 042 ( Figure 8 In the figure, one first port 041 and eight second ports 042 are taken as an example, there may be multiple first ports 041), the first port 041 is connected to multiple second ports 042, and the multiple second ports 042 are coupled and connected to multiple optical fibers 02 in a one-to-one correspondence.

[0076] The optical waveguide 04 can be a planar optical waveguide or a three-dimensional optical waveguide, which is not limited in this application. Figure 8In the example of the planar optical waveguide, when the plurality of second ports 042 include eight second ports 042, the wavelengths of the optical signals reflected by the eight gratings on the eight optical fibers 02 corresponding to the eight second ports 042 may be 1625 nanometers, 1626 nanometers, 1627 nanometers, 1628 nanometers, 1629 nanometers, 1630 nanometers, 1631 nanometers and 1632 nanometers respectively.

[0077] Optionally, the optical waveguide 04 can function as an optical splitter, which can split the light input from the first port 041 into multiple lights, and transmit them to multiple optical fibers 02 from multiple second ports 042. It can be seen that the optical fiber connector provided in the present application can also function as an optical splitter.

[0078] It is understandable that the optical waveguide 04 may not function as an optical splitter. Figure 8 Only one optical fiber connector is schematically shown. Figure 8 In the optical fiber connector, the end of the optical fiber 02 not connected to the optical waveguide 04 may be flush with the housing 01 or may protrude from the housing 01. When the end protrudes from the housing 01, the first structure 011 may protrude from the second structure 012 on the side where the end is located. Figure 8 In the example, the optical waveguide 04 is provided on the first structure 011 . It is understandable that the optical waveguide 04 may also be provided on the surface of the second structure 012 close to the optical fiber 02 , and the present application does not limit this.

[0079] In addition, some of the second ports 042 among the plurality of second ports 042 may be connected to the optical fibers 02 in a one-to-one correspondence, while other second ports 042 are not connected to the optical fibers 02 in a corresponding manner. Only some of the optical fibers 02 among the plurality of optical fibers 02 may be connected to the second ports 042 in a one-to-one correspondence, while other optical fibers 02 are not connected to the second ports 042 in a corresponding manner. It can be seen that at least some of the second ports 042 among the plurality of second ports 042 are coupled and connected to at least some of the optical fibers 02 among the plurality of optical fibers 02 in a one-to-one correspondence.

[0080] When the optical fiber connector includes an optical waveguide, the optical waveguide can be formed on the first structure or the second structure when preparing the optical fiber connector. In addition, the order of forming the optical waveguide and arranging the plurality of optical fibers on the first structure or the second structure is not limited.

[0081] In the present application, when multiple optical fibers are connected to an optical waveguide, a grating is provided on the optical fiber, but not on the optical waveguide. The cross section of the optical fiber perpendicular to the extension direction (which may be circular) has the same size in all directions, so the optical fiber has polarization independence. However, the cross section of the optical waveguide perpendicular to the extension direction is not the same size in all directions, so the optical waveguide has polarization dependence but not polarization independence. If the grating is provided on the optical waveguide, the reflection wavelength of the provided grating will also have polarization dependence, which is not conducive to use in the case of non-single polarization light signals. However, providing the grating on the optical fiber can avoid this polarization dependence and improve the versatility of the optical fiber connector.

[0082] Optionally, when the housing includes the above-mentioned first structure and second structure, the optical fiber connector may further include more structures similar to the first structure and the second structure. For example, the housing also includes a third structure (such as a substrate or an adhesive layer, etc.), and there are multiple optical fibers between the second structure and the third structure. The second structure, the third structure, and the multiple optical fibers therebetween may refer to: the first structure, the second structure, and the multiple optical fibers therebetween, and this application will not go into details here. In other words, the housing includes a multi-layer structure, and there are multiple optical fibers between each two adjacent layers. The multiple optical fibers between each two adjacent layers may refer to the above-mentioned first structure, the second structure, and the multiple optical fibers therebetween.

[0083] The optical fiber connector provided in the present application can be used in various optical devices, optical modules, optical equipment, and optical networks (such as optical distribution network (ODN), passive optical network (PON)). For example, the optical fiber connector can be used in the fan-in and fan-out modules of multi-core and multi-mode optical fibers, and the different fiber cores are marked by the gratings on the optical fibers. For another example, the optical fiber connector can be used in an optical backplane (also called an optical cross-connect (OXC) backplane) to mark the fiber paralleling ports of the optical backplane.

[0084] The following will take the application of optical fiber connectors in optical splitters as an example to explain. Fig. 9 As shown, the optical splitter provided in the present application includes any optical fiber connector 0 provided in the present application that does not include an optical waveguide, and an optical waveguide device 1. The optical waveguide device 1 includes: a splitter substrate 11, and an optical waveguide 12 located on the splitter substrate 11. The optical waveguide 12 has a first port 121 and a plurality of second ports 122, the first port 121 is connected to the plurality of second ports 122, and the plurality of second ports 122 are coupled and connected to the plurality of optical fibers 02 in the optical fiber connector 0 in a one-to-one correspondence.

[0085] The structure of the optical waveguide 12 may refer to the structure of the aforementioned optical waveguide 04 , and will not be elaborated herein. Fig. 9 The fiber optic connector 0 has similar Figure 1 Taking the structure of the optical fiber connector 0 shown as an example, it can be understood that Fig. 9 The structure of the optical fiber connector 0 in the present application can also be the same as that provided in the present application. Figure 1 The structure shown is different from that of other optical fiber connectors.

[0086] exist Fig. 9 In the embodiment, the optical signal transmitted to the first port 121 is divided into multiple optical signals by the optical waveguide, and then transmitted from the multiple second ports 122 to the multiple optical fibers 02 in the optical fiber connector 0, and transmitted along the multiple optical fibers 02. In addition, the grating 021 on the optical fiber 02 can also reflect the optical signal of the corresponding wavelength to identify the optical fiber 02.

[0087] In addition, the present application sets a grating on the optical fiber instead of setting a grating on the optical waveguide, which can avoid the polarization correlation of the grating and improve the performance of the optical splitter where the optical fiber connector is located.

[0088] In the present application, "at least one" refers to one or more, "plurality" refers to two or more, and the terms "first", "second", etc. are used for descriptive purposes only and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0089] It should be noted that in the accompanying drawings, the size of some or all of the layers, or the size of some or all of the regions may be exaggerated for clarity of illustration. It is also understood that when a layer is referred to as being "on" another layer, it may be directly on the other layer, or there may be an intermediate layer. In addition, it is understood that when a layer is referred to as being "under" another layer, it may be directly under the other layer, or there may be more than one intermediate layer. In addition, it is also understood that when a layer is referred to as being "between" two layers, it may be the only layer between the two layers, or there may be more than one intermediate layer. Similar reference numerals throughout the text indicate similar layers. A film layer in the present application may be a one-layer structure, or may be obtained by superimposing a multi-layer structure, and the materials of different layer structures in the multi-layer structure may be the same or different.

[0090] The term "and / or" in this application is only a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. In addition, the character " / " in this article generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship.

[0091] In the corresponding embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed structure can be implemented by other configuration methods. For example, the embodiments described above are merely illustrative.

[0092] The above is only an optional implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any technician familiar with the technical field can easily think of various equivalent modifications or replacements within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, and these modifications or replacements should be included in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. An optical fiber connector, characterized in that: The optical fiber connector comprises: a housing and a plurality of optical fibers arranged in parallel; The shell wraps the multiple optical fibers, and the end faces of both ends of the optical fibers are exposed outside the shell; A portion of at least one optical fiber among the plurality of optical fibers that is wrapped by the shell has a grating, and when the at least one optical fiber includes at least two optical fibers, the gratings on the at least two optical fibers are different from each other.

2. The optical fiber connector according to claim 1, characterized in that: The housing comprises: a first structure and a second structure arranged opposite to each other, and the plurality of optical fibers are located between the first structure and the second structure; A surface of at least one of the first structure and the second structure close to the plurality of optical fibers has a plurality of limiting grooves corresponding one-to-one to the plurality of optical fibers, and the optical fibers are located in the corresponding limiting grooves.

3. The optical fiber connector according to claim 2, characterized in that: The housing has cavities corresponding to m optical fibers among the multiple optical fibers, m≥1, and the cavity and the limiting groove corresponding to one optical fiber among the m optical fibers: The cavity is connected to the limiting groove, the optical fiber passes through the cavity, and in the radial direction of the optical fiber, the size of the cavity is larger than the size of the limiting groove.

4. The optical fiber connector according to claim 3, characterized in that: The m optical fibers include: a first optical fiber, a portion of the first optical fiber wrapped by the shell has a first grating, and at least a partial area of ​​the first grating is connected to a first cavity corresponding to the first optical fiber.

5. The optical fiber connector according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that: The m optical fibers include: a second optical fiber, a portion of the second optical fiber wrapped by the shell has a second grating, and the second grating is isolated from a second cavity corresponding to the second optical fiber.

6. The optical fiber connector according to any one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that: The cavities corresponding to the m optical fibers include: at least one of an annular cavity and a strip-shaped cavity, and the length direction of the strip-shaped cavity is perpendicular to the length direction of the optical fiber.

7. The optical fiber connector according to any one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that: At least one of the first structure and the second structure has a hollow groove for forming the cavity on a surface close to the plurality of optical fibers.

8. The optical fiber connector according to claim 7, characterized in that: The cavity corresponding to the m optical fibers includes: a cavity formed by connecting a first empty slot in the first structure and a second empty slot in the second structure.

9. The optical fiber connector according to claim 8, characterized in that: The orthographic projection of the first empty slot on a reference plane coincides with the orthographic projection of the second empty slot on the reference plane, and the reference plane is perpendicular to an arrangement direction of the first structure and the second structure.

10. The optical fiber connector according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The end faces at both ends of the optical fiber include: at least one of a first type of end face and a second type of end face, the first type of end face protrudes from the surface of the shell, and the second type of end face is flush with the surface of the shell.

11. The optical fiber connector according to claim 10, characterized in that: The housing comprises: a first structure and a second structure arranged opposite to each other, the plurality of optical fibers are located between the first structure and the second structure; a surface of at least one of the first structure and the second structure close to the plurality of optical fibers has a plurality of limiting grooves corresponding to the plurality of optical fibers one by one, and the optical fibers are located in the corresponding limiting grooves; The end faces at both ends of the optical fiber include: the first type of end faces; on the side where the first type of end faces of the optical fiber are located, the first structure protrudes from the second structure, or the second structure protrudes from the first structure.

12. The optical fiber connector according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that: The housing comprises: a first structure and a second structure arranged opposite to each other, the plurality of optical fibers are located between the first structure and the second structure; a surface of at least one of the first structure and the second structure close to the plurality of optical fibers has a plurality of limiting grooves corresponding to the plurality of optical fibers one by one, and the optical fibers are located in the corresponding limiting grooves; The optical fiber connector also includes: an optical waveguide; the optical waveguide is located on the surface of the first structure or the second structure close to the multiple optical fibers; the optical waveguide has a first port and multiple second ports, the first port is connected to the multiple second ports, and at least some of the second ports are coupled and connected to at least some of the optical fibers in a one-to-one correspondence.

13. An optical splitter, characterized in that: include: The optical fiber connector and optical waveguide device according to any one of claims 1 to 11; The optical waveguide device comprises: a splitter substrate, and an optical waveguide located on the splitter substrate; The optical waveguide has a first port and a plurality of second ports, the first port is connected to the plurality of second ports, and the plurality of second ports are coupled and connected to a plurality of optical fibers in the optical fiber connector in a one-to-one correspondence.

Images