Optical connector

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9063281-B2
Application number	US-201313744383-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 17, 2013
Priority date	Sep 14, 2012
Publication date	Jun 23, 2015
Grant date	Jun 23, 2015

Abstract

An optical connector includes a substrate, a light emitter, a case, an optical fiber, and a photo detector. The light emitter, the case, and the photo detector are positioned on the substrate, and the case covers the light emitter and the photo detector. The case defines a first slot and a second slot. The first slot is configured for splitting a light beam of the light emitter into a part transmitting to the optical fiber for data transmission and another part to a side surface of the second slot and directed to the photo detector for intensive and stability measurement of the light beam.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical connector, comprising:
a substrate;
a light emitter positioned on the substrate;
a case positioned on the substrate and covering the light emitter, the case comprising a first surface, a second surface, and a third surface, the second surface facing the light emitter and opposing the first surface, the third surface perpendicularly connecting the first surface to the second surface, the case comprising a first lens formed on the second surface and aligned with the light emitter, the case defining a first slot, a second slot, and a groove in the first surface, all of the first slot, the second slot, and the groove extending along a direction that is parallel with the third surface, the second slot and the groove being positioned at two sides of the first slot, the first slot forming a first total internal reflection (TIR) surface and a second TIR surface both facing toward the light emitter, the second slot forming a third TIR surface, the groove running through the third surface and forming a side surface parallel with the third surface, the case comprising a second lens formed on the side surface and optically aligned with the first lens through the first TIR surface;
an optical fiber positioned in the groove and optically aligned with the second lens; and
a photo detector positioned on the substrate, the photo detector being optically aligned with and optically coupled with the light emitter through the third TIR surface, the second TIR surface, and the first lens; wherein
when the light emitter emits a light beam, the light beam is converged by the first lens to the first slot, and then split by the first TIR surface and the second TIR surface into two parts, a major part of the light beam is reflected by the first TIR surface to the second lens and the optical fiber for transmitting data, and a minor part of the light beam is reflected by the second TIR surface and then reflected by the third TIR surface to the photo detector.

2. The optical connector of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a printed circuit board, the light emitter and the photo detector are electrically connected to the substrate, and the substrate is configured to drive the light emitter to emit the light beam and to process output of the photo detector to determine intensive and stability of light incident on the photo detector.

3. The optical connector of claim 1 , wherein the light emitter is a laser diode.

4. The optical connector of claim 1 , further comprising another light emitters, photo detectors, and optical fibers, wherein the case comprises another first lenses and second lenses, all of the light emitters are positioned on the substrate and arranged along a direction that is substantially parallel with the third surface, all of the first lenses are formed on the second surface and aligned with the light emitters, all of the second lenses are formed on the side surface, arranged along a direction that is substantially parallel with the first surface, and optically aligned with the first lenses via the first TIR surface, all of the optical fibers are positioned in the groove and aligned with the second lenses, and all of the photo detectors are positioned on the substrate, arranged along a direction that is parallel with the third surface, and optically aligned with and optically coupled with the first lenses through the second TIR surface and the third TIR surface.

5. The optical connector of claim 1 , wherein the first TIR surface is adjacent to the groove, connects the first surface to the second TIR surface, and inclines with respect to the first surface at about 45 degrees.

6. The optical connector of claim 5 , wherein the second TIR surface connects the first TIR surface to the first surface and inclines with respect to the first surface at about 45 degrees and is perpendicular to the first TIR surface.

7. The optical connector of claim 1 , wherein the third TIR surface is adjacent to the second TIR surface, connects the first surface, and inclines with respect to the first surface at about 45 degrees.

8. The optical connector of claim 1 , wherein an optical axis of the first lens passes the first TIR surface and offsets an intersection line of the first TIR surface and the second TIR surface.

9. The optical connector claim 8 , wherein the optical axis is close to a line passing through the intersection line of the first TIR surface and the second TIR surface and perpendicular to the first surface.

10. The optical connector of claim 1 , wherein the case comprises a positioning block protruding up from a bottom surface of the groove, the positioning block comprises a top surface facing away from the bottom surface and defines a positioning slot in the top surface, and the positioning slot runs through the positioning block along a direction that is perpendicular to the third surface and is aligned with the second lens, and the optical fiber is received in the positioning slot.

11. The optical connector of claim 1 , wherein the case comprises a supporting protrusion protruding up from the second surface, the supporting protrusion is strip-shaped and surrounds the first lens, a height of the supporting protrusion is larger than a total height of the first lens and the light emitter, and the supporting protrusion supports the case on the substrate.

Assignees

• Hon Hai Prec Ind Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lin I-Thun

Classifications

• G02B6/12002 Primary

  Three-dimensional structures · CPC title

• G02B6/32

  having lens focusing means {positioned between opposed fibre ends (with lens being an integral part of the single fibre end G02B6/262)} · CPC title

• G02B6/428

  containing printed circuit boards [PCB] · CPC title

• G02B6/4214

  the intermediate optical element having redirecting reflective means, e.g. mirrors, prisms for deflecting the radiation from horizontal to down- or upward direction toward a device (G02B6/4246 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G02B6/4286 Primary

  Optical modules with optical power monitoring · CPC title