COMPONENT FOR CONNECTING OPTICAL FIBERS, OPTICAL FIBER CONNECTION STRUCTURE, AND OPTICAL FIBER CONNECTION METHOD

摘要

An optical fiber connecting method not causing any damage to the optical fibers and enabling effective use of space and an optical fiber connection structure formed by the method. The optical fiber connection structure is for connecting optical fibers by means of a component for connecting optical fibers comprising two plugs for aligning at least two optical fibers and connecting them and an adaptor for fixing the plugs. Each plug in which an optical fiber is inserted is attached to an adaptor in the direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the optical fiber, and the plug and adaptor are fixed. A modification may be made in which a latch is provided to at least one of the plug and adaptor, a latch engaging section is provided to the other, the latch is engaged with the latch engaging section, and the plug and adaptor are fixed. Another modification may be made in which a pair of plugs with ferrules and a ferrule aligning member are used, and the ends of the opposed ferrules are inside the ferrule aligning member.