Device and method for splicing array optical fiber with large-size quartz end cap

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12099238-B2
Application number	US-202117340820-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 7, 2021
Priority date	Jan 4, 2021
Publication date	Sep 24, 2024
Grant date	Sep 24, 2024

Abstract

A device for realizing the splicing of an array fiber and a large-size quartz end cap comprises a carbon dioxide laser, a light splitter, a light beam shaper, a high reflectivity mirror, an image detection module, an array fiber and a carrier thereof, a large-size quartz end cap and a carrier thereof, a stepping motor, a thermodetector, and a computer; a laser beam emitted by the carbon dioxide laser is divided into two light beams through a light splitter, after the two light beams respectively pass through the beam shaper and the high reflectivity mirror, two strip-shaped light spots with uniform power density are integrally formed to heat a splicing face of the large-size quartz end cap, a uniform temperature field of a target splicing area is achieved through indirect heating and heat conduction.

First claim

We claim:

1. A device for splicing an array fiber with a quartz end cap, comprising
a light source shaping module for forming two parallel strip-shaped light spots with same light spot size, power density, and uniform power density on an end cap splicing face of a quartz end cap ( 8 ) to be spliced and for heating the end cap splicing face to form a uniform temperature field at a splicing area that is a projection area of an array fiber ( 14 ) on the end cap splicing face; and
an image detection module for realizing alignment and interval measurement of the array fiber ( 14 ) and the quartz end cap ( 8 ) and checking whether fiber end faces of the array fiber ( 14 ) are flush or not.

2. The device for splicing an array fiber with a quartz end cap according to claim 1 , wherein the light source shaping module comprises
a carbon dioxide laser ( 1 ),
a beam splitter ( 2 ),
a first light beam shaper ( 3 ),
a first high reflectivity mirror ( 5 ),
a second light beam shaper ( 12 ), and
a second high reflectivity mirror ( 13 );
wherein the carbon dioxide laser ( 1 ) generates a collimated carbon dioxide single-mode laser beam and heats the splicing face of the end cap;
the beam splitter ( 2 ) is a beam splitter with a transmission/reflection ratio of 50/50 to split a laser output by the carbon dioxide laser ( 1 ) into two identical lasers;
the first light beam shaper ( 3 ) and the second light beam shaper ( 12 ) are both composed of two cylindrical microlens arrays and one spherical Fourier lens, materials of the first light beam shaper ( 3 ) and the second light beam shaper ( 12 ) are both ZnSe, and two split laser round light spots are shaped into strip-shaped light spots with uniform power density by the first light beam shaper ( 3 ) and the second light beam shaper ( 12 ), respectively;
the first high reflectivity mirror ( 5 ) and the second high reflectivity mirror ( 13 ) change a direction of a laser beam; and
the image detection module further comprises:
a first CCD camera ( 6 ), and
a second CCD camera ( 9 ),
wherein the first and second CCD cameras are placed perpendicular to each other, and both imaging directions of the first CCD camera ( 6 ) and the second CCD camera ( 9 ) are perpendicular to a fiber optical axis.

3. The device for splicing an array fiber with a quartz end cap according to claim 2 , further comprising
a thermodetector ( 4 ) for monitoring temperature of the splicing face of the end cap,
an end cap carrier ( 7 ) for clamping the quartz end cap ( 8 ) and realizing five-dimensional displacement adjustment of the quartz end cap ( 8 ),
an array fiber carrier ( 10 ) for clamping the array fiber ( 14 ) to enable fibers to be arranged in parallel and realize five-dimensional displacement adjustment thereof,
a stepping motor ( 11 ) connected with the array fiber carrier ( 10 ) for realizing linear translation of the array fiber ( 14 ), and
a computer ( 15 ) connected with the thermodetector ( 4 ), the first CCD camera ( 6 ), the second CCD camera ( 9 ) and the stepping motor ( 11 ), respectively, and configured to control the thermodetector ( 4 ) to realize temperature monitoring, process images collected by the first CCD camera ( 6 ) and the second CCD camera ( 9 ), and control the stepping motor ( 11 ) to perform linear displacement.

4. The device for splicing an array fiber with a quartz end cap according to claim 1 , wherein the array fiber ( 14 ) is composed of a plurality of fibers, the interval Δx of each adjacent fiber is arbitrarily variable, and sizes of the adjacent fibers can be different from each other.

5. The device for splicing an array fiber with a quartz end cap according to claim 4 , wherein the array fiber ( 14 ) is single-column or two-column.

6. A method for splicing an array fiber with a quartz end cap using the device as described in claim 3 , comprising
(1) clamping and fixing an array fiber ( 14 ) to be spliced by the array fiber carrier ( 10 ) such that the array fiber ( 14 ) is arranged in parallel; clamping and fixing a quartz end cap ( 8 ) to be spliced by the end cap carrier ( 7 );
(2) controlling the first CCD camera ( 6 ) and the second CCD camera ( 9 ) by a computer ( 15 ) to image the array fiber ( 14 ) and the quartz end cap ( 8 ), and checking whether the fiber end faces of the array fiber ( 14 ) are flush or not; aligning and measuring an interval between the array fiber ( 14 ) and the quartz end cap ( 8 ) by adjusting the array fiber carrier ( 10 ) and the end cap carrier ( 7 );
(3) turning on the carbon dioxide laser ( 1 ) to generate the collimated carbon dioxide single-mode laser beam, the collimated carbon dioxide single-mode laser beam being split into two identical laser beams after passing through the beam splitter ( 2 ), and the two identical laser beams becoming two strip-shaped light spots with uniform power density after respectively passing through the first beam shaper ( 3 ), the first high reflectivity mirror ( 5 ) and the second high reflectivity mirror ( 13 ) and the second beam shaper ( 12 ) to heat the splicing face of the end cap and form a uniform temperature field at the splicing area;
(4) monitoring real-time temperature of the splicing area by the thermodetector ( 4 ), setting the stepping motor ( 11 ) at an appropriate translation speed and distance after a preset temperature is reached, and actuating the stepping motor ( 11 ) to realize accurate linear translation of the array fiber ( 14 );
(5) turning off the carbon dioxide laser ( 1 ) after completing a movement of one-time splicing of the array fiber ( 14 ) and the quartz end cap ( 8 ); and
(6) optionally heating the spliced array fiber end cap again to release welding stress and improve splicing quality.

Assignees

• Shanghai Inst Optics & Fine Mech Cas

Inventors

• Zhang Haibo
• Wu Menghao
• He Bing
• Lei Yu
• Zhou Jun
• Qi Yunfeng
• Yuan Zhijun
• Ye Ren

Classifications

• G02B6/2555

  Alignment or adjustment devices for aligning prior to splicing · CPC title

• G02B6/3672

  with fibres arranged in a regular matrix array · CPC title

• G02B6/2808

  using a mixing element which evenly distributes an input signal over a number of outputs · CPC title

• G02B6/2553 Primary

  Splicing machines, e.g. optical fibre fusion splicer · CPC title

• G02B6/2551 Primary

  using thermal methods, e.g. fusion welding by arc discharge, laser beam, plasma torch · CPC title