Fiber array (FA) is a high-precision, highly reliable optical device. It generally refers to utilizing a V-groove substrate to precisely arrange and fix a bundle of optical fibers or an optical fiber ribbon onto the V-groove substrate, thus forming an array. Common fiber arrays mainly include three parts: the substrate, the compression plate, and the optical fibers.
Precisely etched V-grooves are essential components for fiber array positioning. Multiple grooves are cut into the substrate, where the exposed parts of the optical fibers are precisely placed into the V-grooves. Using a pressurizer component to apply pressure and an adhesive to fix the fibers, the end face is finally optically polished to achieve the required precision.
Through the precise positioning of the V-grooves, the fiber array can achieve accurate positioning, stable fixation, and efficient coupling, thereby enhancing the performance and reliability of optical systems. The precision of the center-to-center distance between adjacent grooves in a qualified V-groove can reach ±0.5μm, and the parallelism in the groove length direction between adjacent grooves is within ±0.1 degrees.
Additionally, the substrate material for fiber arrays needs to be selected from materials with a relatively small expansion coefficient, such as glass and silicon, to ensure the stability and reliability of the fiber array.
Due to their unique characteristics of high reliability, high-precision positioning, low connection loss, good bend resistance, and convenient channel differentiation, fiber arrays are widely used in planar optical waveguides, arrayed waveguide gratings, active/passive array fiber devices, microelectromechanical systems, and multi-channel optical modules. Particularly in AWG Mux/Demux and PLC Splitters, fiber arrays are crucial components that can greatly reduce the alignment loss between optical waveguide devices and optical coupling.
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