Butterfly-shaped SOA optical device with inlet and outlet on same side
By designing butterfly SOA optical devices entering and exiting the same side, the problems of large space occupied by optical devices, high thermal stress, high cost and difficult to control in the prior art are solved, and the effects of saving space, reducing thermal stress, reducing costs, facilitating control of bias-keeping direction and realizing backlight monitoring are achieved.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202422181566.0
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Utility models(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2024-09-05
- Publication Date
- 2025-06-10
- Estimated Expiration
- 2034-09-05
AI Technical Summary
The existing butterfly SOA optical devices are located on both sides of the light-inductive polarization fiber and the light-out-discharge polarization fiber, which occupies a large space and is difficult to layout; the fiber bending radius is large, resulting in large thermal stress, affecting the stability of optical power; the cost is high and the bias-maintaining direction is difficult to control, and coupling is difficult; without backlight monitoring, it affects the use of SOA module.
A butterfly SOA optical device on the same side is designed, and the polarization-maintaining fiber array, heat sink and roof prism are fixed in sequence in the tube shell along the direction away from the fiber port. The polarization-maintaining fiber array includes the incoming light-maintaining fiber and the outgoing light-maintaining fiber. The SOA chip coupled with the incoming light-maintaining fiber and the roof prism is fixed on the heat sink, and the roof prism is coupled with the outgoing light-maintaining fiber.
It saves the bending space of the optical fiber, reduces the difficulty of layout of the SOA module, increases the length of the polarization-maintaining fiber, reduces thermal stress, reduces costs, facilitates the control of the polarization-maintaining direction, realizes backlight monitoring, improves the stability of optical power and the efficiency of the SOA module.
Smart Images
Figure CN222965449U_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of optical devices, and particularly relates to a butterfly SOA optical device with in and out on the same side. Background Art
[0002] Traditional butterfly SOA optical devices include: a package, the package is in a butterfly shape, two optical fiber ports are oppositely opened on the package, one optical fiber port is penetrated by a polarization-maintaining optical fiber for incoming light, the other optical fiber port is penetrated by a polarization-maintaining optical fiber for outgoing light, a stress relief tube is sleeved on the areas of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber for incoming light and the polarization-maintaining optical fiber for outgoing light outside the package, a TEC cooler is fixed between the polarization-maintaining optical fiber for incoming light and the polarization-maintaining optical fiber for outgoing light inside the package, one end of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber for incoming light inside the package is fixed on a heat sink through a welding bracket, one end of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber for outgoing light inside the package is fixed on a heat sink through a welding bracket, the two heat sinks are respectively fixed on the cold surfaces of the TEC cooler, an SOA chip is coupled between the polarization-maintaining optical fiber for incoming light and the polarization-maintaining optical fiber for outgoing light, the SOA chip is fixed on the cold surface of the TEC cooler through an aluminum nitride heat sink, and a thermistor is fixed on the aluminum nitride heat sink, specifically as Figure 1 shown, the following defects exist in this type of butterfly SOA optical device:
[0003] 1) Since the polarization-maintaining optical fiber for incoming light and the polarization-maintaining optical fiber for outgoing light are located on both sides of the package, and the bending radii of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber for incoming light and the polarization-maintaining optical fiber for outgoing light are generally greater than 15 mm, it occupies a very large layout space when using this butterfly SOA optical device to make a module, resulting in difficult layout;
[0004] 2) Currently, the polarization-maintaining optical fiber for incoming light and the polarization-maintaining optical fiber for outgoing light in this type of butterfly SOA optical device adopt cylindrical tapered lens optical fibers, and the optical fiber end faces are integrated with lenses, with high costs, and since it is not easy to mark the polarization-maintaining direction on the cylindrical polarization-maintaining optical fiber, it is difficult to align the polarization directions during coupling;
[0005] 3) The polarization-maintaining optical fiber for incoming light and the polarization-maintaining optical fiber for outgoing light are located on both sides of the package, and the length of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber inside the package is too short. Since the polarization-maintaining optical fiber and the package need to be sealed by a brazing process, and the temperature controlled by the coupling part of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber is 25 °C, when the temperature of the package is very high, such as above 85 °C, the temperature at the brazing part of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber and the outer shell is very high, while the temperature at the coupling part of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber and the SOA chip is very low, which will cause large thermal stress at the brazing part of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber and the package, and the polarization-maintaining optical fiber is prone to slight deformation, thus affecting the optical power stability and optical return loss;
[0006] 4) This type of butterfly SOA optical device does not have backlight monitoring, which is not conducive to the use of the SOA module. Content of the Utility Model
[0007] The technical problem to be solved by the utility model is to provide a butterfly SOA optical device with in and out on the same side to overcome the above deficiencies in the prior art.
[0008] The technical solution of the present utility model to solve the above technical problems is as follows: A butterfly-shaped SOA optical device with in-and-out on the same side includes: a housing, on one side of the housing there is a fiber optic port, inside the housing there is successively fixed a polarization-maintaining fiber array, a heat sink, and a roof prism for turning light by 180° along the direction away from the fiber optic port. The polarization-maintaining fiber array has an incoming light polarization-maintaining fiber and an outgoing light polarization-maintaining fiber extending from the fiber optic port. On the heat sink, there is fixed an SOA chip coupled with the incoming light polarization-maintaining fiber and the roof prism, and the roof prism is coupled with the outgoing light polarization-maintaining fiber.
[0009] The beneficial effects of the present utility model are:
[0010] Since the incoming light polarization-maintaining fiber and the outgoing light polarization-maintaining fiber fiber out from the same side of the housing, half of the fiber bending space can be saved, thus greatly reducing the layout difficulty of the SOA module. In addition, the lengths of the incoming light polarization-maintaining fiber and the outgoing light polarization-maintaining fiber inside the housing can be increased significantly. When the incoming light polarization-maintaining fiber and the outgoing light polarization-maintaining fiber are sealed with the fiber optic port of the housing by soldering process, the thermal stress is greatly reduced, reducing the influence on the optical power and optical return loss.
[0011] Since a rectangular polarization-maintaining fiber array is adopted, it is very convenient to control the polarization-maintaining directions of the incoming light polarization-maintaining fiber and the outgoing light polarization-maintaining fiber to be consistent with the SOA chip, and the coupling is very convenient. Furthermore, instead of using expensive cylindrical tapered lens fibers, ordinary end-face polarization-maintaining fibers and ordinary lenses can be used, greatly reducing the cost.
[0012] On the basis of the above technical solution, the present utility model can be further improved as follows.
[0013] Further, a TEC cooler is fixed inside the housing, and the polarization-maintaining fiber array, the heat sink, the roof prism, and the MPD chip are fixed on the cold surface of the TEC cooler.
[0014] The beneficial effect of adopting the above is: The TEC cooler can dissipate heat from the devices on it. Since the lengths of the incoming light polarization-maintaining fiber and the outgoing light polarization-maintaining fiber inside the housing become much longer, and the polarization-maintaining fiber array is fixed on the cold surface of the TEC cooler, the deformation of the fiber does not affect the stability of the coupling optical path and the optical return loss. In addition, in this solution, the length of the TEC cooler is greatly reduced, reducing the cost.
[0015] Further, the end face on the optical port side of the polarization-maintaining fiber array is an 8° surface, and an MPD chip for receiving the stray light reflected by the outgoing light polarization-maintaining fiber is fixed on the cold surface of the TEC cooler.
[0016] The further beneficial effects are as follows: Since the end face on the optical port side of the outgoing polarization-maintaining fiber array can be designed as an 8° surface, stray light reflected by the outgoing polarization-maintaining fiber can be received by adding an MPD chip to achieve backlight monitoring. The tapered lens fiber cannot achieve this purpose. Adding backlight monitoring is beneficial to the use of the SOA module (i.e., the module with an SOA drive circuit and a TEC control circuit). The SOA module can monitor the optical power and can well control the optical power output range.
[0017] Furthermore, a thermistor is fixed on the heat sink.
[0018] The further beneficial effects are as follows: The thermistor is used to monitor the temperature of the SOA chip, so that the TEC cooler can adjust the working power to reduce energy consumption.
[0019] Furthermore, between the incoming polarization-maintaining fiber and the SOA chip on the cold surface of the TEC cooler, an aspheric lens and a first polarization-independent optical isolator are sequentially coupled along the optical propagation direction.
[0020] Furthermore, between the SOA chip and the roof prism, a collimating lens and a second polarization-independent optical isolator are sequentially coupled along the optical propagation direction. The collimating lens is fixed on the cold surface of the TEC cooler, and the second polarization-independent optical isolator is fixed on the side surface of the roof prism.
[0021] Furthermore, a converging lens is coupled between the roof prism and the outgoing polarization-maintaining fiber on the cold surface of the TEC cooler.
[0022] The further beneficial effects are as follows: Since they are discrete lenses (aspheric lens, collimating lens, and converging lens), the coupling tolerance is larger than that of the tapered lens fiber, and the optical path is more stable. In addition, adding a polarization-independent optical isolator on the optical path can ensure the optimal optical path stability and optical return loss performance.
[0023] Furthermore, the incoming polarization-maintaining fiber and the fiber port of the package are sealed by a soldering process, and the outgoing polarization-maintaining fiber and the fiber port of the package are sealed by a soldering process.
[0024] Furthermore, the heat sink is made of aluminum nitride, and the package is in a butterfly shape. Description of the Drawings
[0025] Figure 1 is the top view of the butterfly SOA optical device in the prior art;
[0026] Figure 2 is the top view of the butterfly SOA optical device with the incoming and outgoing sides on the same side in the present invention;
[0027] Figure 3 is the structural diagram of the MPD chip involved in the present invention.
[0028] In the attached drawings, the list of components represented by each reference numeral is as follows:
[0029] 1. Package; 2. Polarization-maintaining fiber array; 210. Input polarization-maintaining fiber; 220. Output polarization-maintaining fiber; 3. Heat sink; 4. Roof prism; 5. SOA chip; 6. MPD chip; 7. TEC cooler; 8. Thermistor; 9. Aspherical lens; 10. First polarization-independent optical isolator; 11. Collimating lens; 12. Second polarization-independent optical isolator; 13. Converging lens. Detailed implementation mode
[0030] The principles and features of the present utility model will be described below with reference to the attached drawings. The examples given are only for explaining the present utility model and are not intended to limit the scope of the present utility model.
[0031] Embodiment 1
[0032] As Figure 2 shown, a butterfly SOA optical device with the input and output on the same side includes: a package 1. One side of the package 1 is provided with an optical fiber port, that is, in this solution, only one optical fiber port is opened on the package 1. Inside the package 1, a polarization-maintaining fiber array 2, a heat sink 3, and a roof prism 4 for turning the light by 180° are sequentially fixed along the direction away from the optical fiber port. The polarization-maintaining fiber array 2 has an input polarization-maintaining fiber 210 and an output polarization-maintaining fiber 220. The input polarization-maintaining fiber 210 and the output polarization-maintaining fiber 220 extend out from the optical fiber port, that is, the input polarization-maintaining fiber 210 and the output polarization-maintaining fiber 220 fiber out from the same side of the package 1.
[0033] An SOA chip 5 coupled to the input polarization-maintaining fiber 210 and the roof prism 4 is fixed on the heat sink 3. The roof prism 4 is coupled to the output polarization-maintaining fiber 220. The input light is incident on the SOA chip 5 through the input polarization-maintaining fiber 210, then is incident on the roof prism 4 from the SOA chip 5, and after the light is turned by 180° by the roof prism 4, it is incident on the output polarization-maintaining fiber 220.
[0034] In this solution, since the input polarization-maintaining fiber 210 and the output polarization-maintaining fiber 220 fiber out from the same side of the package 1, half of the fiber bending space can be saved, thereby greatly reducing the layout difficulty of the SOA module. In addition, the lengths of the input polarization-maintaining fiber 210 and the output polarization-maintaining fiber 220 inside the package 1 can be increased significantly. When the input polarization-maintaining fiber 210 and the output polarization-maintaining fiber 220 are sealed with the optical fiber port of the package 1 by brazing process, the thermal stress is greatly reduced, and the influence on the optical power is reduced.
[0035] Since a rectangular polarization-maintaining fiber array 2 is adopted, it is convenient to control the polarization-maintaining directions of the light-incoupling polarization-maintaining fiber 210 and the light-outcoupling polarization-maintaining fiber 220 to be consistent with those of the SOA chip 5. Therefore, instead of using a cylindrical tapered lens fiber, a polarization-maintaining fiber with a common end face and a common lens can be adopted, resulting in a significant reduction in cost.
[0036] Embodiment 2
[0037] As Figure 2 shown, this embodiment is a further improvement based on Embodiment 1, specifically as follows:
[0038] A TEC cooler 7 is fixed inside the package 1. The polarization-maintaining fiber array 2, the heat sink 3, the roof prism 4, and the MPD chip 6 are fixed on the cold surface of the TEC cooler 7. The polarization-maintaining fiber array 2 can be fixed on the cold surface of the TEC cooler 7 by an adhesive method. The TEC cooler 7 can dissipate heat from the devices thereon. Since the lengths of the light-incoupling polarization-maintaining fiber 210 and the light-outcoupling polarization-maintaining fiber 220 inside the package 1 are significantly increased, and the polarization-maintaining fiber array 2 is fixed on the cold surface of the TEC cooler 7, the deformation of the fiber does not affect the stability of the coupling optical path and the optical return loss. In addition, in this solution, the length of the TEC cooler 7 is significantly reduced, resulting in a cost reduction.
[0039] Embodiment 3
[0040] As Figure 3 shown, this embodiment is a further improvement based on Embodiment 2, specifically as follows:
[0041] The end face on the optical port side of the polarization-maintaining fiber array 2 is an 8° face. An MPD chip 6 for receiving the stray light reflected by the light-outcoupling polarization-maintaining fiber 220 is fixed on the cold surface of the TEC cooler 7. By increasing the backlight monitoring, it is beneficial to the use of the SOA module (i.e., the module with an SOA drive circuit and a TEC control circuit). The SOA module can monitor the optical power and can well control the optical power output range.
[0042] Embodiment 4
[0043] As Figure 2 shown, this embodiment is a further improvement based on Embodiment 1, specifically as follows:
[0044] A thermistor 8 is fixed on the heat sink 3. The thermistor 8 is used to monitor the temperature of the SOA chip 5 so that the TEC cooler 7 can adjust the working power to reduce energy consumption.
[0045] Embodiment 5
[0046] As Figure 2As shown, this embodiment is a further improvement based on any one of Embodiments 2 to 4, specifically as follows:
[0047] On the cold surface of the TEC cooler 7, a aspheric lens 9 and a first polarization-independent optical isolator 10 are sequentially coupled between the incoming polarization-maintaining optical fiber 210 and the SOA chip 5 along the light propagation direction. The light of the incoming polarization-maintaining optical fiber 210 is incident on the SOA chip 5 after passing through the aspheric lens 9 and the first polarization-independent optical isolator 10 in sequence;
[0048] In addition, a collimating lens 11 and a second polarization-independent optical isolator 12 are sequentially coupled between the SOA chip 5 and the roof prism 4 along the light propagation direction. The collimating lens 11 is fixed on the cold surface of the TEC cooler 7, and the second polarization-independent optical isolator 12 is fixed on the side surface of the roof prism 4. The light of the SOA chip 5 is incident on the roof prism 4 after passing through the collimating lens 11 and the second polarization-independent optical isolator 12 in sequence;
[0049] A converging lens 13 is coupled between the roof prism 4 and the outgoing polarization-maintaining optical fiber 220 on the cold surface of the TEC cooler 7. The roof prism 4 turns the light by 180° and then the light is incident on the outgoing polarization-maintaining optical fiber 220 through the converging lens 13;
[0050] Since they are discrete lenses (aspheric lens 9, collimating lens 11, and converging lens 13), the optical path coupling tolerance is large, especially larger than that of the tapered lens fiber coupling. Therefore, the optical path is more stable. In addition, the first polarization-independent optical isolator 10 and the second polarization-independent optical isolator 12 can make the optical return loss performance better.
[0051] The incoming polarization-maintaining optical fiber 210 and the fiber port of the package 1 are sealed by a soldering process, and the outgoing polarization-maintaining optical fiber 220 and the fiber port of the package 1 are sealed by a soldering process. The heat sink 3 is preferably made of aluminum nitride, and the package 1 is in a butterfly shape.
[0052] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described above, it can be understood that the above embodiments are exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the present invention. Those of ordinary skill in the art can make changes, modifications, substitutions, and variations to the above embodiments within the scope of the present invention.
Claims
1. A butterfly-shaped SOA optical device with inlet and outlet on the same side, characterized in that: include: A tube shell (1), one side of the tube shell (1) is provided with an optical fiber port, a polarization-maintaining optical fiber array (2), a heat sink (3) and a roof prism (4) for redirecting light by 180 degrees are fixed in sequence in the tube shell (1) in a direction away from the optical fiber port, the polarization-maintaining optical fiber array (2) has an incoming polarization-maintaining optical fiber (210) and an outgoing polarization-maintaining optical fiber (220) extending from the optical fiber port, an SOA chip (5) coupled to the incoming polarization-maintaining optical fiber (210) and the roof prism (4) is fixed on the heat sink (3), and the roof prism (4) is coupled to the outgoing polarization-maintaining optical fiber (220).
2. The same-side in-out butterfly SOA optical device according to claim 1, characterized in that: A TEC cooler (7) is fixed in the tube shell (1), and the polarization-maintaining optical fiber array (2), the heat sink (3), the roof prism (4) and the MPD chip (6) are respectively fixed on the cold surface of the TEC cooler (7).
3. The same-side in-out butterfly-shaped SOA optical device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The polarization-maintaining optical fiber array (2) is fixed on the cold surface of the TEC refrigerator (7) by bonding.
4. The same-side in-out butterfly SOA optical device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The end face of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber array (2) on the optical port side is an 8° face, and an MPD chip (6) for receiving stray light reflected by the output polarization-maintaining optical fiber (220) is fixed on the cold surface of the TEC refrigerator (7).
5. The same-side in-out butterfly SOA optical device according to claim 1, characterized in that: A thermistor (8) is fixed on the heat sink (3).
6. The same-side in-out butterfly-shaped SOA optical device according to claim 2, characterized in that: On the cold surface of the TEC refrigerator (7), an aspheric lens (9) and a first polarization-independent optical isolator (10) are sequentially coupled along the light propagation direction between the incoming polarization-maintaining optical fiber (210) and the SOA chip (5).
7. The same-side in-out butterfly SOA optical device according to claim 2, characterized in that: A collimating lens (11) and a second polarization-independent optical isolator (12) are coupled in sequence between the SOA chip (5) and the roof prism (4) along the light propagation direction; the collimating lens (11) is fixed on the cold surface of the TEC refrigerator (7); and the second polarization-independent optical isolator (12) is fixed on the side of the roof prism (4).
8. The same-side in-out butterfly-shaped SOA optical device according to claim 2, characterized in that: A converging lens (13) is coupled between the roof prism (4) and the light-emitting polarization-maintaining optical fiber (220) on the cold surface of the TEC refrigerator (7).
9. The same-side in-out butterfly-shaped SOA optical device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The light-incoming polarization-maintaining optical fiber (210) and the optical fiber port of the tube shell (1) are sealed by a brazing process, and the light-outgoing polarization-maintaining optical fiber (220) and the optical fiber port of the tube shell (1) are sealed by a brazing process.
10. The same-side in-out butterfly-shaped SOA optical device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The heat sink (3) is made of aluminum nitride, and the tube shell (1) is butterfly-shaped.