SUPPLY AND REMOVAL CHARACTERISTICS OF OIL IN OPTICAL WAVE-GUIDE FOR AUTOMATED OPTICAL MAIN-DISTRIBUTING-FRAME SYSTEM

We studied the supply and removal of oil to and from a thin groove and the consequent insertion loss, aiming at matrix optical waveguide swi tches that utilize optical reflection and transmission effects at the groove. A robot precisely controlled the position of the removal nozzl e and the supply needle by a vision servo. The optimum position for th e removal nozzle was at the entrance of the groove to a circular oil p ool, and the positioning margin was +/-10-15 mum around the optimum po sition. The on-off ratio of the switching light power at the optimum p osition was about 30 dB. The removal time was proportional to the kine tic viscosity of the oil, and the optimum height of the removal nozzle was independent of the kinetic viscosity of the oil. An analysis of t he insertion loss revealed that the main factor in the loss at the ref lection is the tilt of the groove wall.