Optical coupling device and method of producing same
AssigneeOmron Tateisi Electronics Co.
InventorsKazuo Mikami, Taro Watanabe
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An optical coupling device is prepared with use of an optical medium containing a monomer which is polymerizable when irradiated with light to give a polymer having a higher refractive index than the monomer. The two elements to be coupled optically are at least partly embedded in the optical medium, and an optical coupling path partly interconnecting the two elements is formed by the photopolymerization of the monomer which is accelerated by light propagating from at least one of the elements toward the other element. Thus the photopolymerization of the monomer forms in the portion of the optical coupling path a polymer which has a higher refractive index than the surrounding portion and which therefore provides an optical waveguide of the step index type.
Claims13
A device for optically coupling an optical fiber to a semiconductor element, one end of the optical fiber being opposed to one surface of the semiconductor element, the device comprising an optical medium filling the space between said one end of the optical fiber and said one surface of the semiconductor element and containing a monomer polymerizable by being irradiated with light to give a polymer having a higher refractive index than the monomer, and an optical coupling path formed between said one end of the optical fiber and said one surface of the semiconductor element by the monomer being photopolymerized with light emerging from at least one of the optical fiber and the semiconductor element through the optical medium to the other.
A method of producing an optical coupling device comprising the steps of:
- at least partly embedding two elements to be coupled optically in an optical medium containing a monomer polymerizable with irradiation with light to give a polymer having a higher refractive index than the monomer,
- forming an optical waveguide of predetermined shape for optically coupling the two elements by masking the surface of the optical medium except for the portion where the optical waveguide is formed and partly polymerizing the monomer by irradiation with light onto the surface of the optical medium, and
- projecting light from at least one of the elements onto the other element through the optical waveguide formed by being partly polymerized to effect accelerated polymerization of the monomer within the optical waveguide.
A method of producing an optical coupling device comprising the steps of:
- at least partly embedding two elements to be coupled optically in an optical medium containing a monomer polymerizable with irradiation with light to give a polymer having a higher refractive index than the monomer, and
- projecting light from one of said at least two elements to another of said at least two elements through the optical medium to cause the monomer within the optical medium to be photopolymerized by the irradiation with the projected light to form an optical waveguide for optically coupling said two elements with each other.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.