Efficient Micro Waveguide Coupling based on Microrobotic Positioning

Coupling the endface of an optical fiber to an integrated optical component is currently a low-throughput and costly manual process in the fabrication of the optical devices. In order to meet the high-volume demand for commercial optoelectronic devices, coupling must be automated. This paper presents a robotic positioning system and corresponding path planning strategy based on both the position and light intensity feedback. In this work, a micro-robotic positioning system with 3 degrees of freedoms (DOFs) is developed and integrated with an optical microscopy. Then the fuzzy controller is developed to design the trajectory. Lastly, simulation and experimental results demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed system. Compared with the traditional manual method, the robotic positioning system can realize the coupling within 40 seconds. This method will have a significant impact on the automatic process of the micro manufacture field.

I. Introduction

Fiber optic technology has become a leading approach in the areas of communication [1], [2], data transmission [3], [4], and sensors [5]–[7]. For communication and data transmission, fiber optic signals are faster than electrical signals and are not subject to distortion from external noise and electro-magnetic interference [8]. Fiber optics also have size and weight advantages compared to copper wire due to the much higher bandwidth [9]. In addition, fiber optics such as sensors are increasingly common from temperature [10] and pressure sensors [11] to crack detection and other applications. Many applications for fiber optics require coupling the endface of a fiber to an integrated optoelectronic component (IOC). This coupling is a necessary operation and is the dominant cost of producing an optical device. However, existing research can not achieve the attachment automatically, resulting to the expensive cost and low efficiency of production.