PURPOSE: To provide the optical fiber array which has the high accuracy of the relative positions between respective optical fiber units, is free from optical axis mis-alignment and permits easy assembly and is free in design.
CONSTITUTION: Plural pieces of the optical fiber units 110 formed by fixing optical fibers 101 into cylindrical capillaries 102 are aligned into the spaces segmented by aligning plates 105 by using their outside dimensional sizes. Circular cylindrical or spherical spacers 103 which maintain the specified distances between the optical fiber units are inserted between the respective optical fiber units and are adhered by adhesives 104 to decrease the positional displacement by rolling of the optical fiber units, by which the high-accuracy alignment is automatically realized. The structure of the capillaries constituting the optical fiber units may be made into a structure capable of integrating collimator lenses and the optical fibers.
NOGUCHI KAZUHIRO
MATSUMOTO TAKAO
