Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Fujikura Limited

Tohru Furukawa

Nobuo Tomita

Hiroshi Furukawa

Yoshikazu Nomura

Naoki Nakao

According to the present invention, an optical switch apparatus is provided for switching the connections between a plurality of fixed optical fibers which are fixed and arranged on an optical fiber support base within a container filled with an index-of-refraction matching agent, and movable optical fibers provided on a movable base which is moved by a moving mechanism comprising a worm gear within the aforementioned container. In addition, a worm gear driving member and a cam driving member of a matching device are both provided on the exterior of the aforementioned container via a seal. This worm gear driving member which is connected to a control device, starts the positioning sequence and moves the movable base to a standby position following return of the movable base to a predetermined origin within the container. As a result, it is possible to prevent contamination of the index-of-refraction matching agent over a long period of time, and thereby reduce the connection loss to a satisfactory level. In addition, since the driving precision of the movable base is also improved, it is possible to achieve superior effects such as reduction of the array pitch of the fixed optical fibers, improvement of the precision and increase in the multiplicity of the optical switch apparatus.

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Sakura, Japan

Tohru Furukawa