JP2002139644A - Optical connection device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance positional accuracy using a simple structure, without conducting active alignment, in an optical connecting device for joining an optical waveguide with an optical fiber, and to enable a fiber block holding the tip end of the optical fiber to be easily attached to and detached from a guide. SOLUTION: An optical waveguide layer 4, which has an optical waveguide 4a exposed on the end face, is laminated on the upper face of a waveguide base plate 3; the outer peripheral face of a fiber block 2, which holds an optical fiber 5 exposed on the end face, is held in contact with a guide groove 1a of a guide block 1, which is abutted on the upper face of the waveguide base plate 3, through the pressing force of a leaf spring 7; and, thus the optical waveguide 4a and the optical fiber 5 are brought into physical contact with each other.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical connection device used in optical communications, and more particularly to an optical connection device for optically coupling an input / output optical fiber and an optical waveguide on a waveguide substrate. Things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a general optical connection device of the prior art 1, an optical waveguide is brought into contact with an optical fiber and an optical coupling state is actively adjusted while observing an optical output so that the highest optical output can be obtained. In a state where the optical waveguide and the optical fiber are aligned, they are bonded and fixed. However, in such an optical connection device with active alignment, a long optical fiber is always attached to the completed optical connection device, which causes a problem in mounting.

[0003] To solve this problem, for example, as a connection device between a PLC substrate and an optical fiber according to prior art 2, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 of JP-A-11-258455, a waveguide substrate is used. An optical waveguide circuit formed thereon, an optical fiber held by the optical fiber connection block, and a guide for detachably holding the optical fiber connection block so as to optically couple the optical waveguide circuit and the optical fiber. As shown in FIG. 7 of the publication, this guide is formed by a connection pin formed to project from the side surface of the connector structure and a pin receiving hole formed in the optical fiber connection block to fit the connection pin. The guide is formed in a pin guide V-groove formed on the upper surface of the waveguide substrate as shown in FIG. There are those formed by the pin receiving hole to fit the connecting pin formed on the holding connection pins and the optical fiber connection block. Note that the publication related to FIG. 8 includes a pin pressing cap for holding the connection pin.

[0004] Further, as the PLC connector of the prior art 3, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-56178, FIG.
The glass waveguide and the fiber guide are provided in the planar waveguide (PLC) as shown in (1), and the SM optical fiber is connected to the planar waveguide (PLC). That is, this PLC connector is a planar waveguide (PLC).
A glass block is attached to the planar waveguide (PLC), and a fiber guide is attached to the glass block so that its alignment hole is aligned with the waveguide core of the planar waveguide (PLC). Make up the jack. A plug holding the bare SM optical fiber in the holding portion is connected to the jack configured as described above, and the tip of the bare SM optical fiber is inserted into the alignment hole of the fiber guide of the jack, thereby obtaining the SM. The optical fiber abuts against the end face of the planar waveguide (PLC) and buckles in the cavity.
LC) to be connected to a PC.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art 2, the connection between the waveguide substrate and the optical fiber connection block is performed by fitting the connection pin and the pin receiving hole. If they try to improve the positional accuracy of both parts tightly, the workability of the insertion and removal of both will worsen.On the other hand, if the fitting workability is improved by loosening the fitting, the positional accuracy of both will decrease. In addition, there is a problem that the formation of the holes in the optical fiber connection block is troublesome to manufacture, and the ferrule of a general optical connector cannot be shared as the optical fiber connection block. . Also,
In the publication in which the connection pins shown in FIG. 7 are formed so as to protrude from the side surfaces of the connector structure, the bottom surface of the waveguide substrate serves as a position reference plane between the optical waveguide circuit and the optical fiber, thereby improving the positional accuracy of optical coupling between the two. It was difficult to do. On the other hand, in the waveguide substrate shown in FIG. 8 in which the connection pins are held in the pin guide V-grooves, the strength of the waveguide substrate is reduced, and the pin guide V-groove with high precision is connected to the waveguide substrate. And it was troublesome to create.

In the prior art 3, an optical fiber from the outside is inserted into a fiber guide fixed to the end face of the optical waveguide and pressed against the end face of the waveguide to make optical coupling. It is necessary to fix the fiber guide at an optimum position on the end face of the optical waveguide in advance so as to be in contact with the waveguide core. For this purpose, the fiber guide was first connected to the optical waveguide while passing the optical fiber for adjustment, and the fiber guide position was adjusted so that the intensity of light passing through the optical waveguide and received by the optical fiber was maximized. It is necessary to work to bond and fix the fiber guide in the state,
The work is complicated. Further, since the optical fiber is directly inserted into the thin fiber guide, the optical fiber on the insertion side is exposed and the coating is peeled off, and there is a problem that the optical fiber is very easily broken.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to make it possible to connect an optical waveguide and an optical fiber with a simple configuration, to achieve extremely high positional accuracy without active alignment, and to further improve the optical fiber. It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical connection device that can easily insert and remove a fiber lock whose distal end is protected from a guide.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, a feature of the present invention is to form an optical waveguide layer laminated on an upper surface of a waveguide substrate and expose a front end surface to an end surface of the optical waveguide layer. An optical waveguide that is held by a fiber block and an end face of which is exposed to an end face of the fiber block, and the fiber block is detachably held so as to optically couple the optical waveguide and the optical fiber. A guide portion, the guide portion being in contact with and supported on the upper surface of the waveguide substrate, and a guide groove formed integrally with and extending from the support portion and contacting the outer peripheral surface of the fiber block. And an elastic pressing portion for pressing the fiber block toward the guide groove.

Particularly preferably, a reference step is formed between an upper surface of the waveguide substrate and a side surface of the optical waveguide layer.
The supporting portion of the guide is formed to have a portion that comes into contact with the upper surface of the waveguide substrate forming the reference step and the side surface of the optical waveguide layer.

It is particularly preferable that the guide is provided so that the end face of the optical fiber and the end face of the optical waveguide are physically contacted and optically coupled to each other, and an upper surface of a portion of the optical waveguide layer where the optical waveguide is located. Is provided with a protection block.

It is particularly preferable that the end face of the optical waveguide layer including the portion where the end face of the optical waveguide is exposed is polished and formed into a flat shape, and the end face of the guide block is formed such that the end face of the optical fiber is at the top. In this case, the guide is provided so that the end face of the optical fiber and the end face of the optical waveguide are physically contacted and optically coupled.

Also, particularly preferably, the guide comprises a guide block integrally forming the support portion and the guide portion, and an elastic pressing member separately forming the elastic pressing portion. The elastic pressing member is formed of a leaf spring, one side of the elastic pressing member is held on the waveguide substrate side, and the other side has a plurality of bent portions and extends from the guide groove side to the waveguide substrate side. It was formed by folding back.

Also, particularly preferably, the guide comprises a guide block integrally forming the support portion and the guide portion, and an elastic pressing member separately forming the elastic pressing portion, The elastic pressing member is formed of a leaf spring, one side of the elastic pressing member is held on the waveguide substrate side, and the guide block is held at a portion extended from the side.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state immediately before connection of an optical connection device according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional front view of an essential part in a connection state of the optical connection device of FIG. 1, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a sectional side view of a main part of the optical connection device during connection.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional side view of a main part of the optical connection device in a connection state.

The waveguide substrate 3 is formed based on a flat Si or quartz glass plate. On this waveguide substrate 3, an optical waveguide layer 4 is laminated. The optical waveguide layer 4 is
It is mainly composed of a resin such as SiO2 or polyimide or epoxy, and is formed of an optical waveguide 4a composed of a core layer and a clad 4b composed of a clad layer. In this optical waveguide layer 4, light actually propagates through the optical waveguide 4a formed by the core layer, and its cross section is usually 10 μm square or less. The connection end face of the optical waveguide 4a is exposed on the end face of the optical waveguide layer 4, and is polished to obtain high optical coupling efficiency or to reduce fluctuation due to wear.

In this embodiment, the fiber block 2 is generally a columnar ferrule, and holds the optical fiber 5 therein by bonding or the like. The optical fiber 5 has an optical fiber core 5a and an optical fiber clad 5b, and is exposed on the end face of the fiber block 2. In the case of a single mode fiber, glass is used as a material, and the diameter of the optical fiber core 5a for transmitting light is about 9 μm.

Optical coupling can be obtained by bringing the optical fiber core 5a into close contact with the optical waveguide 4a of the optical waveguide layer 4. However, in order to reduce the connection loss to 0.3 dB or less, both the optical fibers 5a and 4a in the connection plane are required. Must be kept within about 1 μm. For this reason, conventionally, there has been generally performed active alignment, which is called active alignment, in which position adjustment is performed so that the light receiving intensity of the optical fiber is maximized while passing light through the optical waveguide.

In this embodiment, the height of the optical waveguide 4a from the upper surface 6a of the waveguide substrate can be accurately determined by controlling the formation time and the like of the core lower cladding layer formed on the waveguide substrate 3. is there. Therefore, after the optical waveguide layer 4 is formed, the upper surface 6 of the waveguide substrate 3 is formed by a technique such as dry etching.
By exposing a, the height of the optical waveguide 4a can be determined with reference to the exposed waveguide substrate upper surface 6a which becomes the reference step 6.

On the other hand, the optical fiber 5 is
And the optical fiber core 5a is also
And the positional error of the optical fiber 5 and the optical fiber core 5a with respect to the outer peripheral surface of the fiber block 2 is very small. The outer shape of the cylindrical fiber block 2 can be easily formed with extremely high accuracy, and the guide portion 1 of the guide block 1 for guiding the fiber block 2 is provided.
The guide groove 1a formed inside B is calculated in advance and precisely created, so that the fiber block 2 is guided along the guide groove 1a, whereby the guide block 1
The height from the opening end face 1b to the optical fiber core 5a can be accurately adjusted. In this case, the opening end surface 1b of the support portion 1A of the guide block 1 is connected to the upper surface 6 of the waveguide substrate of the reference difference portion 6.
a, the optical fiber core 5a and the optical waveguide 4
By determining the depth of the guide groove 1a so that the position a in the height direction matches, the alignment in the height direction is automatically performed with high accuracy.

In the horizontal direction, if the shape and depth of the guide groove 1a are determined, the horizontal distance from the edge 1c of the guide groove 1a of the guide block 1 to the optical fiber core 5a can be calculated. Therefore, the reference step 6 of the waveguide substrate 3 is provided at a position offset from the optical waveguide 4a by the horizontal distance, and the groove edge 1c of the guide block 1 and the side wall 6b of the reference step 6 are engaged with each other. Horizontal alignment between the optical waveguide 5a and the optical waveguide 4a is also automatically performed with high accuracy.

Waveguide substrate 3 prepared to satisfy this
And the guide block 1, and a leaf spring 7 constituting an elastic pressing member for stably aligning the fiber block 2 with the guide groove 1 a is arranged on the opposite side of the guide block 1, thereby forming the fiber block 2. Guide block 1
When the fiber block 2 is inserted between the plate spring 7 and the plate spring 7, the fiber block 2 is stably pressed against the guide groove 1a by the plate spring 7, and as a result, the optical fiber core 5a and the optical waveguide 4a are accurately aligned without active alignment. A structure that can be easily inserted and removed is realized. In this embodiment, the guide block 1 and the leaf spring 7 constitute a guide 10 for guiding the insertion and removal of the fiber block 2 and holding the fiber block 2 in the inserted state.

In order to press the fiber block 2 stably and evenly against the guide groove 1a, as shown in FIG. 3, the guide groove 1a has at least two bent portions 7b and 7c.
It is convenient and convenient to use a leaf spring 7 formed to extend from the side to the waveguide substrate 3 side. When the fiber block 2 is inserted along the guide groove 1a and hits the distal end 7a of the leaf spring 7, the distal end 7a is moved to the fiber block 2 as shown in FIG.
The fiber block 2 is deformed so as to be pressed against the guide groove 1a along the shape shown in FIG. Here, the vicinity of the first bent portion 7b of the distal end portion 7a is pressed against the fiber block 2 by the moment of the spring force generated from the second bent portion 7c, and the vicinity of the distal end of the distal end portion 7a is formed by the spring force generated by the first bent portion 7b. Press the fiber block 2 against the guide groove 1a. Therefore, in the entire length of the fiber block 2 in contact with the leaf spring 7, the pressing force against the guide groove 1a works within a certain range, and it is possible to limit the one-side contact with the guide groove 1a and the imbalance of the pressing force.

As is apparent from FIGS. 3 and 4, the end surface 2a of the fiber block 2 is polished into an arc shape such as a spherical surface or an elliptical surface so that the end surface of the optical fiber 5 becomes the end surface of the fiber block 2. When the fiber block 2 is pressed against the waveguide substrate 3 with a sufficient force so that the optical fiber core 5a and the optical waveguide 4a are in close contact with each other, the optical fiber core 5a is deformed, and the adhesion with the optical waveguide 4a is increased, and the physical contact is increased. A state called (PC connection) is obtained, and optical coupling loss and light reflection at this portion can be reduced.

In this case, since a load is particularly applied to the optical waveguide 4a and the optical waveguide clad 4b in the vicinity thereof, a protection block 8 for dispersing the load and protecting the end face is provided. Since the protection block 8 is bonded to the surface of the optical waveguide cladding 4b, a material having a linear expansion coefficient close to that of the optical waveguide cladding 4b is selected. In the case of Si or quartz waveguide, a UV-curable adhesive can be used. It is desirable to use glass. In addition, the protection block 8 is planarly polished together with the end faces of the waveguide substrate 3 and the optical waveguide layer 4.

On the other hand, the material of the guide block 1 can be selected according to the target performance, durability and cost. In consideration of abrasion resistance, it is preferable to use ceramic such as zirconia or alumina. Considering that a UV-curable adhesive can be used for bonding, it is desirable to use glass having a high ultraviolet transmittance. Considering that it is inexpensive and has high workability, it is preferable to use Si, epoxy, liquid crystal polymer, or the like. desirable.

In the present embodiment, an example of the guide groove 1a having a trapezoidal groove cross-sectional shape with good workability has been described. Alternatively, the guide groove 1a may have a rectangular cross-sectional shape.
By bringing the bottom of the guide groove into contact with the fiber block 2, the depth of the groove can be reduced. As a result, the thickness of the guide block 1 can be reduced, and the guide groove 1a can be formed into a U-shaped cross-section. For example, it is possible to increase the adhesiveness with the adhesive.

On the other hand, the fiber block 2 can share a 2.5 mm ferrule SC type or FC type and a φ1.25 mm MU type or LC type ferrule generally used as an optical connector plug. . In the case of a general optical connector plug, zirconia or crystallized glass is often used as a ferrule material in consideration of abrasion resistance. As shown in the cross-sectional view of the so-called MU plug in the JIS C5983F14 type optical fiber connector, in the case of the above-listed optical plugs, a spring is incorporated in the plug itself to press the ferrule, and the tip of the ferrule is also PC-polished. Many are equal. When the optical plugs are optically coupled to each other, the optical axes of the ferrules are aligned by a split sleeve, and the plugs are inserted into a connector housing for fixing the plug body. Optical fibers can be optically coupled to each other. Therefore, by providing a connector housing suitable for these optical plugs in the case on the waveguide substrate side and inserting it into the groove of the grooved block instead of the split sleeve, a general optical plug can be used and inexpensive. A waveguide optical connector structure can be provided.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state immediately before connection of the optical connection device of the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a sectional front view of a main part in the connection state of the optical connection device of FIG. In the description of the second embodiment, the duplicate description of the parts common to the first embodiment will be omitted. The same reference numerals in the drawings of the respective embodiments indicate the same or corresponding components.

In this embodiment, a plurality of (for example, four) optical waveguides 4a are provided on the waveguide substrate 3, and the connection surface with the fiber block 2 is polished in a plane. The plurality of optical waveguides 4a are located in the optical waveguide cladding 4b,
It is provided horizontally at equal intervals, and the tip surface is exposed along with the end surface of the optical waveguide layer 4.

The fiber block 2 incorporates a plurality of (for example, four) optical fibers 5 horizontally at equal intervals. The method of making the fiber block 2 will be described.
Into the groove where the optical fiber 5 enters.
In this state, there is a method of bonding and assembling another part so as to cover, or a method of assembling by inserting the optical fiber 5 into a rectangular prism fiber block 2 having a hole.

The outer shape of the fiber block 2 can have any shape. However, when a plurality of optical fibers 5 are inserted, not all the optical fibers 5 are located at the center of the rotation axis in the longitudinal direction. When the fiber block 2 is rotated, the position of the fiber block 2 is shifted with respect to the optical waveguide 4a, and an optical fiber 5 that cannot be optically coupled comes out. To avoid this,
Guide groove 1 of guide block 1 around fiber block 2
At least one of the surfaces in contact with a is constituted by the flat portion 2b,
It is necessary to suppress rotation. In practice, the cross-sectional shape of the fiber block 2 is square or rectangular due to the problems of dimensional accuracy and cost in manufacturing, and the optical fibers 5 are arranged in parallel with the plane portion 2b in contact with the bottom surface 1d of the guide groove 1a in the fiber block 2. The guide groove 1a of the guide block 1 is preferably formed in a concave rectangular shape, and the bottom surface 1d of the guide groove 1a is preferably configured to be parallel to the plane on which the optical waveguide 4a exists.

In this case, the height of each optical fiber 5 in the fiber block 2 is constant with reference to the plane portion 2b contacting the guide groove 1a. The fiber block 2 is formed precisely in accordance with the distance between the portions of the optical waveguide 4a on the substrate 3. Similarly to the first embodiment, when the fiber block 2 is inserted in a state where the guide block 1 is fitted to the reference step 6, the height and the horizontal position of each corresponding optical waveguide 4a and the optical fiber core 5a coincide with each other. The depth of the guide groove 1a and the position of the reference step 6 are determined. The guide block 1 created in this way is fitted into the reference step 6 and fixed, and a leaf spring 7 for pressing the fiber block 2 against the guide groove 1a of the guide block 1 is provided, so that the guide block 1 can correspond to the plurality of optical fiber cores 5a. An optical connection device capable of collectively optically coupling a plurality of optical waveguides 4a can be configured without active alignment.

Here, in coupling the plurality of optical fibers 5 and the plurality of optical waveguides 4a, it is not preferable that the coupling efficiency varies for each coupling. Therefore, the polishing of the fiber block tip for improving the coupling efficiency as performed in the first embodiment equalizes the position of each fiber tip with respect to the longitudinal direction, and is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the fiber block 2, so that all the fibers are In the cross-sectional shape of a plane perpendicular to the plane included, the tip of the fiber block 2 is
This is performed by forming an arc such as a circular arc or an elliptical arc with the tip at the top. By applying a load to the end face of the optical waveguide with the fiber block 2 having such a shape, a load is applied almost uniformly to each optical fiber 5, and the tip of the optical fiber is deformed as in the case of the first embodiment. The degree of adhesion between the optical fiber core 5a and the optical waveguide 4a is increased, and substantially uniform optical coupling efficiency can be expected. Also in this case, it is desirable that a protection block 8 is attached to protect the end face of the optical waveguide, and that the end face of the protection block 8 on the fiber block side is planarly polished together with the end face of the waveguide substrate 3.

In the second embodiment, the guide block holding portion 7d is provided by extending the rear end of the leaf spring 7, and the guide block 1 is tightened and held. With such a structure, it is possible to prevent the adhesive from flowing into the end face of the optical waveguide or the guide groove 1a, which may occur when an adhesive is used to fix the guide block 1 to the waveguide substrate 3. At the same time, the guide block 1 can be easily held.

In each of the embodiments described above, the optical waveguide layer 4 having the optical waveguide 4a exposed at the end face is laminated on the upper surface of the waveguide substrate 3, and the optical fiber 5 is held at the end face while being exposed. Since the outer peripheral surface of the block 2 is held in contact with the guide groove 1a of the guide 10 in contact with the upper surface of the waveguide substrate 3 by the pressing force of the elastic pressing portion 7, the waveguide substrate 3 and the fiber block 2 are held. The optical waveguide 4a and the optical fiber 5 can be connected with a simple configuration without forming guide connection pins, pin receiving holes, and the like, and both the optical waveguide 4a and the optical fiber 5 Positioning is performed with reference to the upper surface, so that vertical positioning accuracy can be extremely high without active alignment, and furthermore, the elasticity of the elastic pressing portion 7 is improved. The fiber block 2 with a protected front end portion of the optical fiber 5 can be easily inserted into or removed from the guide 10 to.

A reference step 6 is formed by the waveguide substrate upper surface 6a and the optical waveguide layer side wall 6b, and the waveguide substrate upper surface 6a and the optical waveguide layer side wall 6 forming the reference step 6 are formed.
Since the supporting portion 1A of the guide 10 is formed so as to have a portion that abuts on the optical waveguide 4a, the positional accuracy between the optical waveguide 4a and the optical fiber 5 can be improved by the simple configuration in addition to the above-described improvement in the vertical accuracy. Also, the accuracy in the horizontal direction can be improved.

Further, the end face of the optical fiber 5 and the optical waveguide 4
Since the guide 10 is provided so as to be in physical contact with the end face of the optical waveguide a and the optical block 5 is provided on the upper surface of the portion of the optical waveguide layer 4 where the optical waveguide 4a is located, the optical fiber 5 and the optical waveguide 5 are provided. The optical contact with the optical waveguide 4a and the optical waveguide clad 4 can be reduced by the physical contact with the optical waveguide 4a.
The load applied to the vicinity of b can be dispersed by the protection block 8 to protect these end faces, and the reliability can be improved.

Further, the end face of the optical waveguide layer 4 including the portion where the end face of the optical waveguide 4a is exposed is polished and formed into a flat shape, and the end face 2a of the fiber block 2 is formed such that the end face of the optical fiber 5 is the top. The guide 10 is provided so that the end face of the optical fiber 5 and the end face of the optical waveguide 4a are physically contacted and optically coupled, so that the vicinity including the optical fiber 5 can be easily formed. To improve the adhesion between the optical fiber 5 and the optical waveguide 4a, obtain a good physical contact state, and further reduce optical coupling loss and optical reflection at the optical coupling portion.

The elastic pressing member is formed by a leaf spring 7, one side of which is held on the waveguide substrate 3 side, and the other side has a plurality of bent portions 7b and 7c and is formed from the guide groove 1a side. Since the fiber block 2 is formed so as to be folded back so as to extend toward the waveguide substrate 3, the fiber block 2 can stably and accurately contact and hold the guide groove 1a, and the fiber block 2 can be easily inserted and removed. Can be.

Since the elastic pressing member is formed of the leaf spring 7 and one side thereof is held on the waveguide substrate 3 side, and the guide block 1 is held at a portion extended from the side, the leaf spring 7 is provided. The guide block 1 can be held at the same time as the mounting, so that the assemblability can be improved.

[0042]

According to the present invention, the optical waveguide and the optical fiber can be connected with a simple structure, and the position accuracy can be made extremely high without performing active alignment. An optical connection device can be obtained in which the fiber block, which protects the fiber end, can be easily pulled in and out of the guide.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state immediately before connection of an optical connection device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional front view of a main part of the optical connection device of FIG. 1 in a connected state.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view of a main part of the optical connection device in FIG. 1 during connection.

FIG. 4 is a sectional side view of a main part of the optical connection device of FIG. 1 in a connected state.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state immediately before connection of an optical connection device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a cross-sectional front view of a main part of the optical connection device of FIG. 5 in a connection state.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Guide block, 1A ... Support part, 1B ... Guide part, 1
a: guide groove, 1b: open end surface, 1c: edge portion, 1d: groove bottom surface, 2: fiber block, 2a: end surface, 2b: outer peripheral flat surface portion, 3: waveguide substrate, 4: optical waveguide layer, 4a: light guide Waveguide, 4b: Optical waveguide clad, 5: Optical fiber, 5a
... optical waveguide core layer, 5b: optical waveguide cladding layer, 6: reference step, 6a: upper surface of waveguide substrate, 6b: optical waveguide layer side wall, 7: leaf spring (elastic pressing member), 7a: tip end, 7
b: first bent portion, 7c: second bent portion, 7d: guide block holding portion, 8: protection block, 10: guide.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Makoto Shimaoka 502, Kandachicho, Tsuchiura-shi, Ibaraki Pref. Machinery Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Ryuta Takahashi 5-1-1 Hidakacho, Hitachi-shi, Ibaraki F-term in Hitachi Cable, Ltd. Optro System Laboratory (reference) 2H037 AA01 BA24 DA04 DA06 DA15 DA33

Claims (6)

[Claims] An optical waveguide formed on an optical waveguide layer laminated on an upper surface of a waveguide substrate and having a distal end surface exposed at an end surface of the optical waveguide layer; and an optical waveguide held by a fiber block and having a distal end surface formed of the fiber. An optical fiber exposed at an end face of the block, and a guide for detachably holding the fiber block so as to optically couple the optical waveguide and the optical fiber, wherein the guide is provided on an upper surface of the waveguide substrate. A support portion that is supported in contact with the support portion; a guide portion formed integrally with and extending from the support portion and formed with a guide groove that contacts the outer peripheral surface of the fiber block; and an elastic member that presses the fiber block against the guide groove side. An optical connection device having a pressing portion. 2. The optical connection device according to claim 1, wherein a reference step is formed between an upper surface of the waveguide substrate and a side surface of the optical waveguide layer, and an upper surface of the waveguide substrate forming the reference step and An optical connection device, wherein a support portion of the guide is formed so as to have a portion in contact with a side surface of the optical waveguide layer. 3. The optical connection device according to claim 1, wherein the guide is provided so that the end face of the optical fiber and the end face of the optical waveguide are physically contacted and optically coupled, and the optical waveguide layer is provided. An optical connection device, wherein a protection block is provided on an upper surface of a portion where the optical waveguide is located. 4. The optical connection device according to claim 1, wherein the end face of the optical waveguide layer including a portion where the end face of the optical waveguide is exposed is polished and formed into a planar shape.
The end face of the guide block is formed by polishing in an arc shape such that the end face of the optical fiber is the top, and further, the end face of the optical fiber and the end face of the optical waveguide are physically contacted and optically coupled. An optical connection device comprising a guide. 5. The optical connection device according to claim 1, wherein the guide includes a guide block that integrally forms the support portion and the guide portion, and the elastic pressing portion is separate from the guide block. And an elastic pressing member forming a portion, wherein the elastic pressing member is formed of a leaf spring,
An optical connection device wherein one side is held on the waveguide substrate side, and the other side is formed by folding back so as to extend from the guide groove side to the waveguide substrate side with a plurality of bent portions. . 6. The optical connection device according to claim 1, wherein said guide is formed integrally with said support portion and said guide portion, and said elastic pressing portion is formed separately from said guide block. And an elastic pressing member forming a portion, wherein the elastic pressing member is formed of a leaf spring,
An optical connection device, wherein one side thereof is held on the waveguide substrate side, and the guide block is held at a portion extended from the one side.