Polarization maintaining optical fiber array and preparation method thereof

Abstract

The invention discloses a polarization maintaining optical fiber array and a preparation method thereof. The preparation method comprises the following steps: arranging bare optical fiber parts of a plurality of polarization maintaining optical fibers into a cat eye adjusting auxiliary groove plate and a V-shaped groove plate, and pressing a first cover plate on the V-shaped groove plate; adjusting the non-bare optical fiber parts one by one, and performing dispensing fixation on the bare optical fiber parts and the cat eye adjusting auxiliary groove plate to form a first fixed part; the bare optical fiber parts, the V-shaped groove plate and the first cover plate are subjected to dispensing fixation to form a second fixing part; the first fixing part is removed, the second fixing part is turned over and then placed on the grinding auxiliary groove plate, and the second cover plate is pressed on the grinding auxiliary groove plate; the bare optical fiber parts, the grinding auxiliary groove plate and the second cover plate are fixed in a dispensing mode, and a third fixing part is formed; removing each non-bare optical fiber part, the second fixing part and the third fixing part to form a grinding part; and the two ends of the grinding part are ground, the third fixing part is cleaned, and the grinding auxiliary groove plate and the second cover plate are removed. It can be guaranteed that the slow axis angle of the polarization maintaining optical fiber is + / -3 degrees.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of polarization-maintaining optical fibers, and in particular to a polarization-maintaining optical fiber array and a preparation method thereof. Background Art

[0002] Polarization-maintaining fiber array refers to a fiber assembly that arranges multiple polarization-maintaining fibers in an orderly manner. Polarization-maintaining fiber arrays are mainly used in fiber optic sensors, communication systems, test instruments and other fields.

[0003] The existing method for preparing a polarization-maintaining fiber array is to directly glue and fix the optical fiber at the end face of the fiber array to the V-groove plate after adjusting the cat's eye, and directly grind the end face of the polarization-maintaining fiber array. This method is very inconvenient to operate, and the angle error of the optical fiber slow axis is large. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present invention provides a polarization-maintaining optical fiber array and a preparation method thereof, so as to solve the problems of inconvenient operation and large slow axis angle error existing in the existing preparation method of polarization-maintaining optical fiber array.

[0005] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for preparing a polarization-maintaining optical fiber array, the method comprising:

[0006] Arrange the bare fiber parts of a plurality of polarization-maintaining optical fibers along the second direction in the cat's eye auxiliary groove plate and the V-groove plate arranged along the first direction, and press the first cover plate on the V-groove plate along the third direction; wherein the polarization-maintaining optical fiber includes a bare fiber part and a non-bare fiber part, the first direction is the direction in which the bare fiber part points to the non-bare fiber part, and the first direction, the second direction and the third direction are perpendicular to each other;

[0007] The non-bare optical fiber parts are adjusted one by one, and when the cat's eye angle of the bare optical fiber part observed from the cat's eye auxiliary slot plate reaches a preset angle, the bare optical fiber part and the cat's eye auxiliary slot plate are fixed by glue to form a first fixing part;

[0008] After each of the bare optical fiber parts is fixed to the cat's eye auxiliary groove plate, each of the bare optical fiber parts, the V-shaped groove plate and the first cover plate is fixed by glue to form a second fixing part;

[0009] The first fixing portion is cut and removed, and the second fixing portion is turned over along the third direction and placed on the grinding auxiliary groove plate, and the second cover plate is pressed on the grinding auxiliary groove plate along the third direction; wherein each of the bare optical fiber portions exposed outside the second fixing portion can be arranged in the groove of the grinding auxiliary groove plate;

[0010] The bare fiber part, the grinding auxiliary groove plate and the second cover plate are fixed by glue to form a third fixing part; wherein the length of the bare fiber part is greater than the sum of the lengths of the cat's eye auxiliary groove plate, the V-shaped groove plate and the grinding auxiliary groove plate in the first direction;

[0011] Cut and remove each of the non-bare optical fiber portions, so that the second fixing portion and the third fixing portion form a grinding portion;

[0012] The two ends of the grinding part are ground, the third fixing part is cleaned, and the grinding auxiliary groove plate and the second cover plate are removed to obtain a polarization-maintaining optical fiber array.

[0013] Optionally, along the first direction, the grinding auxiliary slot plate includes a first step, a second step and a third step;

[0014] The first step is used to support the flipped second fixing portion;

[0015] Along the third direction, the height of the second step is higher than the first step and lower than the third step;

[0016] The third step is provided with a grinding auxiliary groove, and the height of the third step is the sum of the height of the first step and the thickness of the first cover plate.

[0017] Optionally, a through hole is provided at a portion where the first step contacts the first cover plate.

[0018] Optionally, the bare optical fiber portion and the cat-eye auxiliary slot plate are fixed by glue spotting to form a first fixing portion, which includes:

[0019] Apply photosensitive glue to the contact between the bare optical fiber part and the cat-eye auxiliary slot plate;

[0020] The photosensitive glue is irradiated with an ultraviolet lamp to solidify the photosensitive glue.

[0021] Optionally, fixing the bare optical fiber parts, the V-groove plate and the first cover plate by glue spotting to form the second fixing part comprises:

[0022] Apply photosensitive glue between the V-groove plate and the first cover plate so that it contacts the bare optical fiber portion;

[0023] The photosensitive glue is irradiated with an ultraviolet lamp to solidify the photosensitive glue.

[0024] Optionally, fixing the bare optical fiber parts, the grinding auxiliary groove plate and the second cover plate by glue to form the third fixing part comprises:

[0025] Apply epoxy glue between the grinding auxiliary slot plate and the second cover plate so that the epoxy glue contacts the bare optical fiber portion;

[0026] The epoxy glue is heated and cured using a heating platform.

[0027] Optionally, grinding both ends of the grinding portion, cleaning the third fixing portion, and removing the grinding auxiliary groove plate and the second cover plate comprises:

[0028] Grinding the first end surface of the grinding portion; wherein the first end surface of the grinding portion is the end surface formed by the second fixing portion;

[0029] Grinding the second end surface of the grinding portion; wherein the second end surface of the grinding portion is the end surface formed by the third fixing portion;

[0030] The third fixing part is placed in a surfactant solution, and the grinding auxiliary groove plate and the second cover plate are removed after the epoxy glue is dissolved.

[0031] Optionally, along the first direction, a distance D1 between the V-shaped groove plate and the cat's eye auxiliary groove plate satisfies 0.5 mm ≤ D1 ≤ 1 mm;

[0032] A distance D2 between the V-groove plate and the non-bare optical fiber portion satisfies 3.5 mm ≤ D2 ≤ 4 mm.

[0033] Optionally, a length D3 of the bare fiber portion exposed in the air in the polarization-maintaining fiber array satisfies 2.5 mm≤D3≤3.5 mm.

[0034] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a polarization-maintaining optical fiber array, which is prepared by the preparation method described in the first aspect.

[0035] Compared with the technical solution of directly fixing the optical fiber at the end face of the optical fiber array with glue after adjusting the cat's eye, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention assists in cat's eye adjustment by adding a cat's eye adjustment auxiliary groove plate in the preparation method of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber array, and after adjusting the cat's eye, the polarization-maintaining optical fiber array and the cat's eye adjustment auxiliary groove plate are first fixed, and then the polarization-maintaining optical fiber array and the V-groove plate are fixed, thereby ensuring the stability of the fixation of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber array and the V-groove plate, making the operation more convenient, and being beneficial to reducing the angle error of the optical fiber slow axis, ensuring that the slow axis angle of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber is within ±3°, and assisting in grinding by setting a grinding auxiliary groove plate, which is convenient and simple to operate, is beneficial to reducing the difficulty of grinding, and has large-scale mass production.

[0036] It should be understood that the contents described in this section are not intended to identify the key or important features of the embodiments of the present invention, nor are they intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Other features of the present invention will become easily understood through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0037] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

[0038] Figure 1 A flowchart of a method for preparing a polarization-maintaining optical fiber array provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0039] Figure 2 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a portion of the preparation process of step S110 in the provided preparation method;

[0040] Figure 3 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a portion of the preparation process of step S110 in the provided preparation method;

[0041] Figure 4 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a portion of the preparation process of step S140 in the provided preparation method;

[0042] Figure 5 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a portion of the preparation process of step S140 in the provided preparation method;

[0043] Figure 6 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the preparation process of step S160 in the provided preparation method;

[0044] Figure 7 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a portion of the preparation process of step S170 in the provided preparation method;

[0045] Figure 8 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a portion of the preparation process of step S170 in the provided preparation method;

[0046] Fig. 9 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a portion of the preparation process of step S170 in the provided preparation method;

[0047] Fig.10A schematic structural diagram of a polarization-maintaining optical fiber array provided in an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0048] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the scheme of the present invention, the technical scheme in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work should fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0049] It should be noted that the terms "first", "second", etc. in the specification and claims of the present invention and the above-mentioned drawings are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the data used in this way can be interchanged where appropriate, so that the embodiments of the present invention described herein can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any of their variations are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, for example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units clearly listed, but may include other steps or units that are not clearly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices. The orientation or positional relationship indicated by the terms "upper", "lower", "left", "right", etc. is based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and is only used to illustrate the relative positional relationship between the components or components, and does not particularly limit the specific installation orientation of the components or components.

[0050] Figure 1 A flowchart of a method for preparing a polarization-maintaining optical fiber array provided in an embodiment of the present invention, referring to Figure 1 The method for preparing the polarization-maintaining optical fiber array in the embodiment of the present invention comprises:

[0051] S110, arrange the bare fiber portions of multiple polarization-maintaining optical fibers along the second direction to the cat's eye auxiliary groove plate and the V-groove plate arranged along the first direction, and press the first cover plate on the V-groove plate along the third direction, wherein the polarization-maintaining optical fiber includes a bare fiber portion and a non-bare fiber portion, the first direction is the direction in which the bare fiber portion points to the non-bare fiber portion, and the first direction, the second direction and the third direction are perpendicular to each other.

[0052] It should be noted that the bare fiber portion 11 of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber 10 refers to the polarization-maintaining optical fiber 10 not including a coating layer, and the non-bare fiber portion 12 of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber 10 refers to the polarization-maintaining optical fiber 10 including a coating layer.

[0053] It is understandable that before arranging the multiple polarization-maintaining optical fibers 10 including the bare fiber portion 11 and the non-bare fiber portion 12 as described in step S110, it is necessary to first strip and cut each polarization-maintaining optical fiber 10 including only the non-bare fiber portion 12. Specifically, first use a fiber thermal stripper to strip off the coating layer at one end of each polarization-maintaining optical fiber 10 to form a bare fiber portion 11 with a length of about 20 mm, then use dust-free paper dipped in alcohol to clean the polarization-maintaining optical fiber 10, and finally use a fiber cleaver to cut the bare fiber portion 11 to obtain a bare fiber portion 11 with a length of about 10 mm, and make the ends of the bare fiber portion 11 flush.

[0054] Figure 2 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a part of the preparation process of step S110 in the preparation method provided, Figure 3 for Figure 1 Partial preparation process diagram of step S110 in the preparation method provided, refer to Figure 2 and Figure 3 , the first direction X is the direction from the bare fiber part 11 to the non-bare fiber part 12. Along the first direction X, the cat's eye auxiliary groove plate 30 and the V-groove plate 20 are arranged in sequence. The cat's eye auxiliary groove plate 30 includes a plurality of cat's eye auxiliary grooves extending along the first direction X and arranged along the second direction Y, and the V-groove plate 20 includes a plurality of V-grooves extending along the first direction X and arranged along the second direction Y. The cat's eye auxiliary grooves and the V-grooves correspond to each other one by one along the second direction Y and are aligned along the first direction X. The bare fiber parts 11 of the plurality of polarization-maintaining optical fibers 10 are sequentially arranged in the aligned cat's eye auxiliary grooves and V-grooves along the second direction Y.

[0055] In the third direction Z, the first cover plate 40 is pressed onto the V-groove plate 20 so that the polarization-maintaining optical fibers 10 can be neatly arranged in the V-groove. Specifically, the first cover plate 40 is first placed on the V-groove plate 20, and then Figure 2 The polarization-maintaining optical fiber 10, the V-groove plate 20, the cat's eye auxiliary groove plate 30 and the first cover plate 40 are moved to the position shown in FIG. Figure 3 The first cover plate 40 is placed on the stage shown in the figure, and the first cover plate 40 is pressed onto the V-groove plate 20 by a pressing head 50 arranged on the stage.

[0056] The outer diameter of the bare fiber portion 11 of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber 10 in the embodiment of the present invention is 125 μm, and the outer diameter of the non-bare fiber portion 12 is 250 μm, which are relatively small. When performing step S110, a microscope can be used.

[0057] It should be noted that Figure 2The illustrated embodiment is merely an example of dividing a plurality of polarization-maintaining optical fibers 10 into two turns, each turn including 12 polarization-maintaining optical fibers 10, and does not limit the number of turns of the polarization-maintaining optical fibers 10 and the number of polarization-maintaining optical fibers 10 included in each turn. Those skilled in the art may set them according to actual needs.

[0058] Specifically, refer to Figure 2 Along the first direction X, the distance D1 between the V-groove plate 20 and the cat-eye auxiliary groove plate 30 satisfies 0.5 mm ≤ D1 ≤ 1 mm. The distance D2 between the V-groove plate 20 and the non-bare optical fiber portion 12 satisfies 3.5 mm ≤ D2 ≤ 4 mm.

[0059] Exemplarily, the distance D1 between the V-groove plate 20 and the cat's eye auxiliary groove plate 30 satisfies 0.5mm≤D1≤1mm, that is, there is a small gap, the existence of which is to facilitate subsequent cutting, and the gap cannot be too large, which will affect the alignment of the V-groove and the cat's eye auxiliary groove. The distance D2 between the V-groove plate 20 and the non-bare fiber part 12 satisfies 3.5mm≤D2≤4mm, in order to reserve enough length to place the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60 and to ensure that the bare fiber part 11 is placed in the groove of the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60.

[0060] Continue to refer Figure 2 It can be seen that after executing step S110, part of the bare fiber portion 11 is located outside the side of the cat's eye auxiliary slot plate 30 away from the V-shaped slot plate 20. This arrangement is to facilitate the observation of the cat's eye angle of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber 10. It should be noted that the cat's eye angle in the polarization-maintaining optical fiber 10 refers to the periodic change length of the polarization state of light during propagation, that is, the beat length.

[0061] S120, adjust the non-bare optical fiber parts one by one, and when the cat's eye angle of the self-adjusting cat's eye auxiliary slot plate observing the bare optical fiber part reaches a preset angle, fix the bare optical fiber part and the cat's eye auxiliary slot plate by glue to form a first fixed part.

[0062] As a feasible implementation method, the bare optical fiber part 11 and the cat's eye auxiliary slot plate 30 are fixed by glue spotting to form a first fixed part (not shown in the figure), which includes: applying photosensitive glue to the contact point between the bare optical fiber part 11 and the cat's eye auxiliary slot plate 30; irradiating the photosensitive glue with an ultraviolet lamp to cure the photosensitive glue.

[0063] It should be noted that the first fixing portion refers to the portion where the bare optical fiber portion 11 and the cat's eye auxiliary slot plate 30 overlap along the third direction Z after glue dispensing, that is, the whole formed by fixing each bare optical fiber portion 11 and the cat's eye auxiliary slot plate 30.

[0064] Exemplarily, the non-bare fiber part 12 is rotated, and the bare fiber part 11 connected thereto will also rotate accordingly. An industrial camera is placed on the side of the cat's eye auxiliary groove plate 30 away from the V-groove plate 20. The industrial camera is used to obtain images of the bare fiber part 11 during its rotation process, and a CCD display connected to the industrial camera is used to observe changes in the cat's eye angle, and the cat's eye angle is adjusted according to the changes until the cat's eye angle meets the requirements. Then, a glue dispenser is used to apply photosensitive glue to the cat's eye auxiliary groove corresponding to the bare fiber part 11, and the ultraviolet lamp is turned on for 6 seconds to cure the photosensitive glue. Repeat the above steps until the cat's eye angles of all polarization-maintaining optical fibers 10 are adjusted. It should be noted that when dispensing glue, the unadjusted polarization-maintaining optical fiber 10 and the cat's eye auxiliary groove corresponding to the polarization-maintaining optical fiber 10 cannot be applied.

[0065] S130, after each bare optical fiber part is fixed to the cat's eye auxiliary groove plate, each bare optical fiber part, the V-shaped groove plate and the first cover plate are fixed by glue to form a second fixing part.

[0066] As a feasible implementation method, each bare optical fiber part 11, V-groove plate 20 and first cover plate 40 are fixed by glue spotting to form a second fixed part (not shown in the figure), which includes: applying photosensitive glue between the V-groove plate 20 and the first cover plate 40 and in contact with the bare optical fiber part 11; irradiating the photosensitive glue with an ultraviolet lamp to cure the photosensitive glue.

[0067] It should be noted that the second fixed part refers to the part where the bare optical fiber part 11, the V-groove plate 20 and the first cover plate 40 overlap along the third direction Z after glue dispensing, that is, the whole formed after the bare optical fiber part 11, the V-groove plate 20 and the first cover plate 40 are fixed.

[0068] Exemplarily, a photosensitive glue is dispensed between the V-groove plate 20 and the first cover plate 40 by a glue dispenser, and the photosensitive glue is cured by irradiating with an ultraviolet lamp. The first cover plate 40 may be a glass cover plate.

[0069] S140, cut and remove the first fixing part, flip the second fixing part along the third direction, place it on the grinding auxiliary groove plate, and press the second cover plate on the grinding auxiliary groove plate along the third direction, wherein the bare optical fiber parts exposed outside the second fixing part can be arranged in the groove of the grinding auxiliary groove plate.

[0070] Figure 4 for Figure 1 Partial preparation process diagram of step S140 in the preparation method provided, refer to Figure 4 By using a fiber optic cutting knife to cut the bare fiber portion 11 between the V-groove plate 20 and the cat's eye auxiliary groove plate 30, the first fixing portion can be separated from the second fixing portion, thereby achieving the purpose of removing the first fixing portion.

[0071] Figure 5 for Figure 1 A partial preparation process schematic diagram of step S140 in the preparation method provided, Figure 6 for Figure 1 The preparation process diagram of step S160 in the provided preparation method is shown in FIG. Figure 5 and Figure 6 , along the first direction X, the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60 includes a first step 61, a second step 62 and a third step 63. The first step 61 is used to carry the flipped second fixing part. Along the third direction Z, the height of the second step 62 is higher than the first step 61 and lower than the third step 63. The third step 63 is provided with a grinding auxiliary groove 631, and the height of the third step 63 is the sum of the height of the first step 61 and the thickness of the first cover plate 40.

[0072] refer to Figure 2-Figure 6 It can be seen that along the third direction Z, the thickness of the first cover plate 40 is smaller than the thickness of the V-shaped groove plate 20. Compared with the technical solution of directly placing the V-shaped groove plate 20 in the second fixing part downward in contact with the first step 61, the embodiment of the present invention arranges the second fixing part to be turned over so that the first cover plate 40 is placed downward in contact with the first step 61, which is beneficial to reducing the height of the third step 63 and the manufacturing cost of the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60. Moreover, in this field, the end face of the final polarization-maintaining optical fiber array is based on being parallel to the end face of the first cover plate 40, and the length of the bare optical fiber portion 11 protruding from the polarization-maintaining optical fiber array and exposed in the air is also based on the distance between the end face of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber array and the end face of the first cover plate 40 in the first direction X. By setting the first cover plate 40 to contact the first step 61 downward, the first cover plate 40 can ensure that its end face can remain parallel to the side face of the third step 63 under the limitation of the top face of the first step 61 and the side face of the second step 62, thereby avoiding the situation where the end face of the final polarization-maintaining optical fiber array is not parallel to the end face of the first cover plate 40, which is beneficial to improving the manufacturing accuracy of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber array.

[0073] The height of the first step 61 is lower than that of the second step 62 , which is beneficial for the second fixing portion to be stuck on the second step 62 when the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60 is removed later, thereby preventing the second fixing portion from sliding downward.

[0074] The third step 63 is provided with a plurality of grinding auxiliary grooves 631 extending along the first direction X and arranged along the second direction Y. The grinding auxiliary grooves 631 and the V-shaped grooves correspond one to one along the second direction Y and are aligned along the first direction X. The bare optical fiber portions 11 exposed outside the second fixing portion are sequentially arranged in the grinding auxiliary grooves 631 of the grinding auxiliary groove plate along the second direction Y.

[0075] Along the third direction Z, the second cover plate 70 is pressed on the third step 63 of the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60 so that the polarization-maintaining optical fibers 10 can be neatly arranged in the grinding auxiliary groove 631. Specifically, the second cover plate 70 is first placed on the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60, and then the polarization-maintaining optical fibers 10, the V-groove plate 20, the first cover plate 40, the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60 and the second cover plate 70 are moved to the position as shown in FIG. Figure 5 The second cover plate 70 is placed on the stage shown in the figure, and the second cover plate 70 is pressed onto the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60 by the pressing head 50 arranged on the stage.

[0076] Furthermore, a through hole 611 is provided at the portion where the first step 61 contacts the first cover plate 40. The provision of the through hole 611 facilitates the subsequent removal of the grinding auxiliary slot plate 60, that is, the first step 61 is easily separated from the second fixing portion.

[0077] S150, fix each bare optical fiber part, the grinding auxiliary groove plate and the second cover plate with glue to form a third fixed part, wherein the length of the bare optical fiber part is greater than the sum of the lengths of the cat's eye auxiliary groove plate, the V-groove plate and the grinding auxiliary groove plate in the first direction.

[0078] As a feasible implementation method, each bare optical fiber part 11, the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60 and the second cover plate 70 are fixed by glue to form a third fixed part (not shown in the figure), which includes: applying epoxy glue between the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60 and the second cover plate 70 and in contact with the bare optical fiber part 11; and heating and curing the epoxy glue with a heating table.

[0079] It should be noted that the third fixing portion refers to the portion where the bare fiber portion 11, the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60 and the second cover plate 70 overlap along the third direction Z after dispensing, that is, the whole formed after the bare fiber portion 11, the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60 and the second cover plate 70 are fixed. The second cover plate 70 can be a glass cover plate.

[0080] Exemplarily, epoxy glue is dispensed between the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60 and the second cover plate 70 by a glue dispenser, and fills the bare optical fiber portion 11 between the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60 and the second cover plate 70. The epoxy glue is heated for 5 hours on a heating table to achieve curing of the epoxy glue.

[0081] S160, cutting and removing each non-bare optical fiber portion, and the second fixing portion and the third fixing portion form a grinding portion.

[0082] refer to Figure 6 By using a fiber optic cutter to cut the bare fiber portion 11 between the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60 and the non-bare fiber portion 12, each non-bare fiber portion 12 can be removed, thereby obtaining a grinding portion 80 including a second fixing portion and a third fixing portion.

[0083] S170, grinding both ends of the grinding part, cleaning the third fixing part, removing the grinding auxiliary groove plate and the second cover plate, and obtaining a polarization-maintaining optical fiber array.

[0084] As a feasible implementation method, Figure 7 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a portion of the preparation process of step S170 in the provided preparation method, Figure 8 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a portion of the preparation process of step S170 in the provided preparation method, Fig. 9 for Figure 1 Partial preparation process diagram of step S170 in the preparation method provided, refer to Figure 7 , Figure 8 and Fig. 9 , grinding both ends of the grinding part 80, cleaning the third fixing part, and removing the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60 and the second cover plate 70 include: grinding the first end surface 81 of the grinding part 80, wherein the first end surface 81 of the grinding part 80 is the end surface formed by the second fixing part; grinding the second end surface 82 of the grinding part 80, wherein the second end surface 82 of the grinding part 80 is the end surface formed by the third fixing part; placing the third fixing part in a surfactant solution 90, and removing the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60 and the second cover plate 70 after the epoxy glue is dissolved.

[0085] It is understandable that if the second end face 82 is ground first and then the first end face 81 is ground, it is necessary not only to clean the second end face 82 after grinding but also to clean the first end face 81 after grinding. However, if the first end face 81 is ground first and then the second end face 82 is ground, it is only necessary to clean the first end face 81 after grinding. The cleaning of the second end face 82 after grinding can be performed when the third fixing part is placed in the surfactant solution 90, which is helpful to simplify the grinding and cleaning steps.

[0086] For example, the two ends of the grinding part 80 are firstly ground respectively to remove the bare fiber part 11 extending from the two end surfaces thereof, and then the epoxy glue bonding the bare fiber part 11, the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60 and the second cover plate 70 is removed by the surfactant solution 90, so that the third fixing part can be separated from the grinding auxiliary groove plate 60 and the second cover plate 70, and finally, the third fixing part can be cleaned to obtain the following. Fig.10 The polarization-maintaining fiber array shown, Fig.10 A schematic structural diagram of a polarization-maintaining optical fiber array provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0087] After steps S110-S170, the polarization-maintaining optical fiber array is obtained as follows: Fig.10As shown, it includes a V-groove plate 20, a first cover plate 40, a bare optical fiber portion 11 located between the V-groove plate 20 and the first cover plate 40, and a bare optical fiber portion 11 exposed in the air.

[0088] Optionally, a length D3 of a bare optical fiber portion exposed in the air in the polarization-maintaining optical fiber array satisfies 2.5 mm≤D3≤3.5 mm.

[0089] Fig.10 The illustrated embodiment is merely illustrative of an example in which the length D3 of the bare optical fiber portion 11 exposed in the air satisfies 2.5 mm ≤ D3 ≤ 3.5 mm, and is not intended to be limiting. Those skilled in the art may set the length D3 according to actual needs.

[0090] Compared with the technical solution of directly fixing the optical fiber at the end face of the optical fiber array with glue after adjusting the cat's eye, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention assists in cat's eye adjustment by adding a cat's eye adjustment auxiliary groove plate in the preparation method of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber array, and after adjusting the cat's eye, the polarization-maintaining optical fiber array and the cat's eye adjustment auxiliary groove plate are first fixed, and then the polarization-maintaining optical fiber array and the V-groove plate are fixed, thereby ensuring the stability of the fixation of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber array and the V-groove plate, making the operation more convenient, and being beneficial to reducing the angle error of the optical fiber slow axis, ensuring that the slow axis angle of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber is within ±3°, and assisting in grinding by setting a grinding auxiliary groove plate, which is convenient and simple to operate, is beneficial to reducing the difficulty of grinding, and has large-scale mass production.

[0091] Based on the same inventive concept, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a polarization-maintaining optical fiber array, which is prepared by the preparation method provided by the above embodiment.

[0092] The above specific implementations do not constitute a limitation on the protection scope of the present invention. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations and substitutions can be made according to design requirements and other factors. Any modification, equivalent substitution and improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for preparing a polarization-maintaining optical fiber array, characterized in that: include: Arrange the bare fiber parts of a plurality of polarization-maintaining optical fibers along the second direction in the cat's eye auxiliary groove plate and the V-groove plate arranged along the first direction, and press the first cover plate on the V-groove plate along the third direction; wherein the polarization-maintaining optical fiber includes a bare fiber part and a non-bare fiber part, the first direction is the direction in which the bare fiber part points to the non-bare fiber part, and the first direction, the second direction and the third direction are perpendicular to each other; The non-bare optical fiber parts are adjusted one by one, and when the cat's eye angle of the bare optical fiber part observed from the cat's eye auxiliary slot plate reaches a preset angle, the bare optical fiber part and the cat's eye auxiliary slot plate are fixed by glue to form a first fixing part; After each of the bare optical fiber parts is fixed to the cat's eye auxiliary groove plate, each of the bare optical fiber parts, the V-shaped groove plate and the first cover plate is fixed by glue to form a second fixing part; The first fixing portion is cut and removed, and the second fixing portion is turned over along the third direction and placed on the grinding auxiliary groove plate, and the second cover plate is pressed on the grinding auxiliary groove plate along the third direction; wherein each of the bare optical fiber portions exposed outside the second fixing portion can be arranged in the groove of the grinding auxiliary groove plate; The bare fiber part, the grinding auxiliary groove plate and the second cover plate are fixed by glue to form a third fixing part; wherein the length of the bare fiber part is greater than the sum of the lengths of the cat's eye auxiliary groove plate, the V-shaped groove plate and the grinding auxiliary groove plate in the first direction; Cut and remove each of the non-bare optical fiber portions, so that the second fixing portion and the third fixing portion form a grinding portion; The two ends of the grinding part are ground, the third fixing part is cleaned, and the grinding auxiliary groove plate and the second cover plate are removed to obtain a polarization-maintaining optical fiber array.

2. The preparation method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Along the first direction, the grinding auxiliary slot plate includes a first step, a second step and a third step; The first step is used to support the flipped second fixing portion; Along the third direction, the height of the second step is higher than the first step and lower than the third step; The third step is provided with a grinding auxiliary groove, and the height of the third step is the sum of the height of the first step and the thickness of the first cover plate.

3. The preparation method according to claim 2, characterized in that: A through hole is provided at a portion where the first step contacts the first cover plate.

4. The preparation method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The bare optical fiber part and the cat-eye auxiliary slot plate are fixed by glue to form a first fixing part, which includes: Apply photosensitive glue to the contact between the bare optical fiber part and the cat-eye auxiliary slot plate; The photosensitive glue is irradiated with an ultraviolet lamp to solidify the photosensitive glue.

5. The preparation method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Fixing the bare optical fiber parts, the V-groove plate and the first cover plate by glue spotting to form a second fixing part comprises: Apply photosensitive glue between the V-groove plate and the first cover plate so that it contacts the bare optical fiber portion; The photosensitive glue is irradiated with an ultraviolet lamp to solidify the photosensitive glue.

6. The preparation method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Fixing the bare optical fiber parts, the grinding auxiliary groove plate and the second cover plate with glue to form the third fixing part comprises: Apply epoxy glue between the grinding auxiliary slot plate and the second cover plate so that the epoxy glue contacts the bare optical fiber portion; The epoxy glue is heated and cured using a heating platform.

7. The preparation method according to claim 6, characterized in that: Grinding both ends of the grinding portion, cleaning the third fixing portion, and removing the grinding auxiliary groove plate and the second cover plate comprises: Grinding the first end surface of the grinding portion; wherein the first end surface of the grinding portion is the end surface formed by the second fixing portion; Grinding the second end surface of the grinding portion; wherein the second end surface of the grinding portion is the end surface formed by the third fixing portion; The third fixing part is placed in a surfactant solution, and the grinding auxiliary groove plate and the second cover plate are removed after the epoxy glue is dissolved.

8. The preparation method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Along the first direction, the distance D1 between the V-shaped groove plate and the cat's eye auxiliary groove plate satisfies 0.5 mm ≤ D1 ≤ 1 mm; A distance D2 between the V-groove plate and the non-bare optical fiber portion satisfies 3.5 mm ≤ D2 ≤ 4 mm.

9. The preparation method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The length D3 of the bare fiber portion exposed in the air in the polarization-maintaining fiber array satisfies 2.5 mm≤D3≤3.5 mm.

10. A polarization-maintaining optical fiber array, characterized in that: The method is prepared by the preparation method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

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