| 摘要 |
PURPOSE:To perform optical path switching at low cost with high precision by connecting the 1st and 2nd optical fibers to a rectangular prism in one body, making an optical connection by the total reflection of a prism bottom surface, and by attaching and detaching an optical path switching material to and from the bottom surface. CONSTITUTION:To a rectangular prism 6, the 1st and 2nd optical fibers 8 and 9 are connected by using an optically transparent adhesive. Incident light from an optical fiber 8 is totally reflected by the bottom surface 7 of the prism 6 and its reflected light is photodetected by the fiber 9. When an optical path switching material 10 made of a rubbery material is brought into tightly sealed contact with the bottom surface 7, the total reflection condition of the bottom surface 7 are not satisfied and the incident light leaks into the optical path switching material 10 and does not reach the fiber 9. Namely, the optical path switching material 10 is attached to the bottom surface 7 to switch optical paths. Thus, since the connections of the optical fibers to the prism are made by a transparent adhesive and there is no optical path in air, connection precision is relieved and an optical coupling loss is lessened, so that an on-off push-button optical switch is manufactured at low cost with high precision. |
