Method of Forming Refractive Index Distribution in Light Transmission Path, and Optical Filter and Method of Using the Same

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method of controlling the characteristics of a light transmission path such as an optical fiber member or a plane waveguide path which is used in an optical communication device or the like, and an optical filter. More particularly, the invention relates to a method of forming a refractive index distribution in a light transmission path for controlling its transmission and reflection characteristics, and an optical filter having characteristics which can be dynamically controlled.

2. Description of the Background Art

In order to form a grating by a permanent fluctuation distribution of a refractive index in a silica optical fiber member for controlling its transmission and reflection characteristics, in general the interference or diffraction of a laser beam has been utilized heretofore. Alternatively, a grating of a permanent refractive index distribution has been formed by intermittently moving an optical fiber member which is irradiated with a laser beam while limiting a region irradiated with the laser beam through a slit.

FIGS. 4A to 4C schematically illustrate an exemplary method of forming a permanent refractive index distribution in an optical fiber member through interference of a laser beam. Referring to FIG. 4A, a silica optical fiber member 10 includes a core 1 which is doped with Ge and a clad layer 2 covering the core 1. An ultraviolet laser beam 21 is divided into a pair of laser beams 21a and 2lb by a beam splitter (half mirror) 22. The respective laser beams 21a and 2lb are reflected by total reflection mirrors 23a and 23b, to interfere with each other at the position of the core 1. Namely, the interfering light has an intensity distribution which periodically fluctuates along the longitudinal direction of the core 1, so that a permanent grating la having a refractive index periodically fluctuating along the longitudinal direction of the core 1 is formed by interaction between the interfering light and the Ge material of the core.

When light L is incident upon the optical fiber member 10 including the periodic permanent refractive index fluctuation distribution la, a partial light component La which is included in the light L is reflected by the grating la, so that only the remaining partial light component Lb passes through the grating la. FIGS. 4B and 4C are graphs showing the relations between wavelengths .lambda. and intensity values I in the partial light components La and Lb respectively. Namely, the permanent grating la reflects only the light component La of a specific wavelength in the incident light L, and can serve as a kind of filter.

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates an exemplary method of forming a permanent refractive index distribution in an optical fiber member through a slit. In the method shown in FIG. 5, an optical fiber member 10 including a core 1 and a clad layer 2 is partially shielded by a pair of slit masks 30a and 30b. The optical fiber member 10 is irradiated with an ultraviolet laser beam which is expressed by arrow 32 through a slit 31 between the slit masks 30a and 30b. At this time, the ultraviolet laser beam 32 has a direction of polarization which is parallel to the slit 31, as shown by arrow 33. Due to such irradiation with the ultraviolet laser beam 32, a permanent high refractive region is formed in the core 1 of the optical fiber member 10 in correspondence to the slit 31. Therefore, a permanent refractive index distribution can be formed similarly to the grating 1ashown in FIG. 4A, by intermittently moving the optical fiber member 10 along its longitudinal direction, as shown by arrow 11.

In the method utilizing interference or diffraction of a laser beam included in the conventional methods of forming permanent refractive index distributions in optical fiber members, however, the optical fiber member must be irradiated with a laser beam for at least several tens of minutes in order to form a sufficient permanent refractive index distribution, and it is difficult to stably maintain an optical system for such a longtime for forming an interference or diffraction fringe with no influence by temperature change or external vibration. Namely, the optical system for forming an interference or diffraction fringe for forming a fine grating in the core of an optical fiber member requires fine control, which disadvantageously leads to inferior controllability in the process.

On the other hand, the method of forming a permanent refractive index distribution in an optical fiber member through a slit disadvantageously requires an enormous time for forming a grating including hundreds of periodic refractive index fluctuations, although this method does not require an optical system for forming an interference or diffraction fringe. As understood from FIG. 5, only a single refractive index fluctuation can be formed by single irradiation with a laser beam through the slit.

Further, an optical filter including a permanent refractive index distribution which is formed by the aforementioned conventional method is a static filter, and it is impossible to change its characteristics after formation of the filter, except for the central wavelength of transmitted light. In order to control the transmission property of a conventional optical filter system, therefore, the optical filter member which is inserted in a light transmission path is mechanically exchanged. Alternatively, mechanical force is applied to a filter forming a permanent periodic structure of a refractive index by irradiation with a laser beam, thereby changing the central wavelength of transmitted light. However, the former method has such problems that the speed of response is so slow that selectable spectra are definite, and high density packaging cannot be attained since a filter exchanger is large-sized. On the other hand, the latter method has such a problem that the speed of response is so slow that only the central wavelength of transmitted light is controllable.

In consideration of the aforementioned problems of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide a method which can form a refractive index distribution in a light transmission path with excellent controllability in a relatively short time.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a miniature optical filter allowing high density packaging, whose filter characteristics can be controlled at a high speed of response so that not only the central wavelength of transmitted light but the transmittance and the bandwidth can be dynamically changed, and a method of using the same.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a method of forming a refractive index distribution in a light transmission path comprises the steps of preparing a light transmission path including a core and a clad or cladding layer, applying a photosensitive material layer on the surface of the cladding layer, patterning the photosensitive material layer through photolithography thereby forming a mask pattern, and irradiating the light transmission path with an electromagnetic wave having a wavelength not exceeding that of visible light, thereby forming in the core a fluctuation distribution of a refractive index corresponding to the mask pattern.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of forming a refractive index distribution in a light transmission path comprises the steps of preparing a light transmission path including a core and a clad or cladding layer, applying a photosensitive material layer to the surface of the cladding layer, patterning the photosensitive material layer through photolithography for forming a first mask pattern, covering a surface part of the cladding layer exposed in the region of the first mask pattern with a metal layer, removing the first mask pattern for forming a second mask pattern consisting of the metal layer, and irradiating the light transmission path with an electromagnetic wave having a wavelength not exceeding that of visible light through the second mask pattern, thereby forming in the core a fluctuation distribution of a refractive index corresponding to the second mask pattern.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a method of forming a refractive index distribution in a light transmission path comprises the steps of forming a metal layer on a support film, patterning the metal layer through photolithography thereby forming a mask film including the support film and the patterned metal layer pattern, arranging the mask film so that the metal layer pattern approximates the surface of a clad or cladding layer of a light transmission path including a core and the cladding layer and irradiating the light transmission path with an electromagnetic wave having a wavelength not exceeding that of visible light through the mask film, thereby forming in the core a fluctuation distribution of a refractive index corresponding to the metal layer pattern.

In the method of forming a refractive index distribution in a light transmission path according to the present invention, an optical mask corresponding to the refractive index fluctuation distribution to be formed in the light transmission path is directly formed on the outer surface of the light transmission path, or a previously formed plane mask is arranged in proximity to the outer surface of an optical fiber member, whereby a complicated optical system is not required for forming an interference or diffraction fringe unlike the prior art, and a long time is not required for forming a remaining permanent refractive index distribution, unlike the conventional method employing a slit, while the refractive index distribution can be dynamically controlled during irradiation with light by changing the intensity of the light or a region irradiated with the light. According to the present invention, further, it is not necessary to utilize interference or diffraction, whereby an X-ray having a higher efficiency of causing a refractive index change than ultraviolet light can be employed to enable formation of a permanent refractive index distribution in a shorter time, while the speed of response for dynamically controlling the refractive index distribution can be improved.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, an optical filter comprises a light transmission path including a core and a cladding layer, and a fringy shielding pattern which is periodically formed on the surface of the light transmission path.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, a method of using an optical filter including a fringy shielding pattern which is periodically formed on the surface of a light transmission path including a core and a cladding layer comprises the steps of irradiating the core with light through the shielding pattern for filtering light advancing in the light transmission path and adjusting at least either the intensity of the light or a region irradiated with the light thereby dynamically controlling the characteristics of the optical filter.

The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1A to 1D are sectional views schematically showing steps of a method of forming a refractive index distribution in an optical fiber member according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 2A to 2C are sectional views schematically showing steps following that of FIG. 1D;

FIGS. 3A to 3D are sectional views schematically showing a method of forming a refractive index distribution in an optical fiber member according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 4A to 4C schematically illustrate a conventional method of forming a refractive index distribution in an optical fiber member through an interference fringe caused by a laser beam; and

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a conventional method of forming a refractive index distribution in an optical fiber member using a laser beam projected; through a slit.

FIGS. 1A to 1D and 2A to 2C are sectional views schematically illustrating a method of forming a refractive index distribution in a light transmission path according to an embodiment of the present invention. The light transmission path includes an optical fiber member or a plane waveguide path which is generally used for optical communication, while the application or use thereof is not necessarily restricted to this field. In short, the light transmission path may include a core part having a high refractive index and a clad part or cladding part of a surface layer having a lower refractive index than the core part.

FIG. 1A shows an exemplary section along the longitudinal direction of an ordinary single mode optical fiber member. This optical fiber member 10 may be made of silica materials and; includes a core 1 and a clad or cladding layer 2 covering the core 1. In general, the core 1 has a sectional diameter of 10 .mu.m, and the cladding layer 2 has a thickness of 57.5 .mu.m. Namely, the optical fiber member 10 has an outer diameter of 125 .mu.m.

Referring to FIG. 1B, the clad layer 2 is worked into a clad layer 2a of not more than 50 .mu.m in thickness with aqueous hydrofluoric acid. This process is desirable for improving the efficiency of reaction between an electromagnetic wave which is applied later and the core 1. When a strong electromagnetic wave is employed, therefore, the clad layer 2 does not necessarily need to be reduced in thickness.

While the clad layer 2a is preferably reduced in thickness in order to improve the reaction efficiency between the applied electromagnetic wave and the core 1, the light transmission loss of the optical fiber member 10 is increased if the clad layer 2a is extremely reduced in thickness. Therefore, the clad layer 2a preferably has a thickness of at least 10 .mu.m. In a concrete Example, an optical fiber member 10 having an outer diameter of 125 .mu.m was dipped in 50% aqueous hydrofluoric acid for 20 minutes, and worked into an optical fiber member 10A of 50 .mu.m in outer diameter. Namely, the clad layer 2a of the optical fiber member 10A has a thickness of 20 .mu.m.

Referring to FIG. 1C, a photosensitive material layer 3 is applied onto the surface of the clad layer 2a which has been reduced in thickness. The material for the photosensitive material layer 3 can be selected from various materials, such as PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) which is photosensitive resin, for example. In a concrete Example and preferably has a thickness of at least 0.1 .mu.m, PMMA was applied in a thickness of 1 .mu.m, dried and thereafter heated in the air to 170.degree. C. and maintained in this state for 30 minutes, in order to form the photosensitive material layer 3.

Referring to FIG. 1D, the PMMA layer 3 is worked into a resin mask pattern 3a including a groove pattern having a period of 0.5 .mu.m through well-known photolithography. A refractive index distribution can be formed in the core 1 by transversely irradiating the optical fiber member 10A with an electromagnetic wave through the resin mask pattern 3a . In consideration of shielding performance with respect to the electromagnetic wave, however, the resin mask pattern 3a is preferably replaced with a metal mask pattern, as described below.

Referring to FIG. 2A, at least the clad layer surface which is exposed through the resin mask pattern 3a is covered with a metal layer 4. The metal layer 4 can be made of W, Ta or the like and preferably has a thickness of at least 0.01 .mu.m. In a concrete Example, a thin film of W having a thickness of 0.3 .mu.m was formed by vacuum deposition. In this case, the resin mask pattern 3a itself is also covered with the W thin film 4.

Referring to FIG. 2B, the resin mask pattern 3a is 5 removed, whereby the portion of the W thin film 4 covering the resin mask pattern 3a is removed by a lift-off method, while leaving a metal mask pattern 4a. In this state, the optical fiber member 10A is transversely irradiated with an electromagnetic wave through a slit 5A as shown by arrows 5, whereby a refractive index fluctuation distribution la corresponding to the metal mask pattern 4a is formed in the core 1. In this case, the core 1 is directly irradiated with the electromagnetic wave through the metal mask pattern 4a without needing to form an interference or diffraction fringe of the electromagnetic wave, and hence the electromagnetic wave can be prepared may not only be visible light or ultraviolet radiation, but may also be an X-ray having a high efficiency of causing a refractive index change. In a concrete Example, the refractive index for light of a specific wavelength by the formed permanent refractive index distribution la was increased with an increase of the irradiation time, to form a narrow-band reflection filter in about 30 seconds when core 1 was irradiated with an X-ray through the W mask pattern 4a of 0.3 .mu.m.

Finally with reference to FIG. 2C, the clad layer 2a is preferably covered with a flexible reinforcing resin layer 6. This flexible resin layer 6 is adapted to reinforce the mechanical strength of the thinned optical fiber member 10A, and can be formed by applying an ultraviolet setting resin and hardening the same by irradiation with ultraviolet radiation from an UV lamp or the like, for example. While the reinforcing resin layer 6 is applied after removal of the metal mask pattern 4a in FIG. 2C, the layer 6 may alternatively be applied while leaving the metal mask pattern 4a in place.

FIGS. 3A to 3D are sectional views schematically illustrating a method of forming a refractive index distribution in an optical fiber member according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3A, a metal layer 8 consisting of W, Ta or the like and preferably having a thickness of at least 0.01 .mu.m. is deposited on a support film 7 consisting of a carbon film, a silicon nitride film or a silicon carbide film by sputtering, for example has a thickness of not more than 100 .mu.m.

Referring to FIG. 3B, the metal layer 8 is worked into a metal mask pattern 8a including a periodic groove pattern through well-known photolithography, thereby forming a mask film 9.

Referring to FIG. 3C, the mask film 9 is so arranged that the metal layer pattern 8a approximates or is moved close or adjacent to an optical fiber member 10A. The optical fiber member 10A includes a core 1 and a thinned clad layer 2a. In this state, a permanent refractive index fluctuation distribution 1a corresponding to the metal layer pattern 8a can be formed in the core 1 by irradiating the core 1 with an electromagnetic wave expressed by arrows 5 through a slit 5A and the mask film 9.

Finally with reference to FIG. 3D, the thinned clad layer 2a is covered with a flexible reinforcing resin layer 6, preferably similarly to that shown in FIG. 2C.

The inventor has first found that an extremely larger refractive index change is caused in the core 1 during irradiation with light 5 as shown in FIG. 2B or 3C, as compared with the permanent refractive index change remaining in the core 1 after the irradiation with the light 5 is completed. For example, it has been recognized that the refractive index change which is caused in the core 1 during irradiation with light 5 of high intensity can reach about 10 times the refractive index which can permanently remain in the core 1 after removal of the light 5. It has also been recognized that the refractive index change in the core 1 can be dynamically changed in response to the light intensity by changing the intensity of the light 5 during the irradiation therewith.

Namely, a light transmission path comprising a periodic fringy shielding pattern on its surface as shown in FIG. 2B or FIG. 3C can be employed as an optical filter whose control transmission characteristics can be dynamically controlled.

As a concrete Example of such an optical filter, a periodic tungsten shielding pattern 4a at a pitch of 0.5 .mu.m was formed by X-ray lithography through steps similar to those shown in FIGS. 1A to 1C and 2A and 2B. The optical filter shown in FIG. 2B having such a shielding pattern 4a was irradiated with a semiconductor laser beam 5 having a wavelength of 0.65 .mu.m. During the irradiation with the laser beam 5, the transmission attenuation factor of the optical filter was controllable by adjusting the intensity of the laser beam 5, while the bandwidth of the transmitted light was controllable in the range of 0.5 nm to 60 nm by adjusting the slit 5A shown in FIG. 2B and changing the length of the region irradiated with the laser beam 5. Further, it was possible to control the central wavelength of the transmitted light in the range of 1.2 .mu.m to 1.7 .mu.m by applying mechanical force to the optical filter.

According to the present invention, as hereinabove described, it is possible not only to provide a method which can form static and dynamic refractive index distributions in a light transmission path with excellent controllability in a short time, but also to provide an optical filter whose transmission characteristics can be dynamically controlled, and to provide a method of using the same.

Although the present invention has been described and illustrated in detail, it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation, the spirit and scope of the present invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims.